Want to be more creative? Try these sensory tricks recommended by a creativity researcher

Like sleep, creativity is hard to force. However, according to Ravi Mehta, we can create environments that encourage our natural creative capacities. Mehta researches consumer creativity at the University of Illinois and is especially interested in the relationship between creativity and the senses. We asked him what creativity is and what kinds of sights, sounds and smells the muses prefer.

What is creativity?

"Creativity is all about problem-solving," says Mehta. The common way to solve a problem is simply to do what's worked before. We all have a set of routine answers that  we apply to common problems: recipes for meals; workout routines; procedures for unclogging a drain.

Creativity happens when we depart from our standard operating procedures. Mehta points to everyday examples: "You run out of ingredients for your dinner recipe, you find out your dress shoes are scuffed right before you have to leave for dinner, what do you do? These problems require creativity." A creative solution meets two criteria, says Mehta, "It has to be novel, and it has to work."

Although we can't "force" ourselves to be creative, Mehta says that adjusting our sensuous surroundings can make a difference: "Our senses are the medium we use to engage with the world. Therefore, changing inputs to our senses changes how we process information, and that can make us more creative."

Vision: Dim the lights for creativity

Humans are norm-bound creatures. We know what we're "supposed to" do in most situations, and usually we do it. And for most problems, the best thing to do is to reach for a tried and true solution. There's no sense in trying to invent a new way to make your bed every morning.

"Creativity," says Mehta, "is essentially breaking the norms. So the question becomes, how do we break norms?" One tactic is simply to lower the lights. A 2013 study found that dim lighting enhanced performance on creativity tests, whereas bright lighting was better for detail-oriented tasks.

Mehta explains that this is because dim lighting makes people feel less seen by others. Increased anonymity loosens the hold of social norms, which allows norm-breaking creativity more freedom to manifest itself. "In dim lighting, we do things we wouldn't normally do," says Mehta.

Colour: Blue for artists, red for accountants

In a 2009 paper co-authored with Juliet Zhu, Mehta argued that colour also affects creativity. According to Mehta, it's a rule of thumb that "Anything that puts you in a relaxed mood is, in general, helps you be more creative." When we feel relaxed and secure, this makes us more inclined to take the risk of departing from norms.

Mehta and Zhu found that the colour red hurt creativity. "Red puts us on the defensive. People think of danger, fire, blood, and that makes us very careful. If your walls are painted red, you're attentive and will do better on detail-oriented tasks like proofreading or doing our taxes," says Mehta. 

By contrast, "Blue colours usually make people think about nice things like the stars and the ocean. This puts them in a more open-minded and relaxed frame of mind. When you are in that space, you're open to take more risks, and therefore open to more ideas."  However, notes Mehta, these effects are not universal. These colours may have different effects on people who come from cultures where these colours have different associations.

Sound: Background noise and the 'right' amount of distraction 

Another way of loosening the grip of the routine-oriented part of our minds is to distract it.  "When you're slightly distracted from a problem, your brain keeps working on it, and it comes up with more creative solutions," says Mehta.

In a 2012 study, Mehta tested the effect of different levels of ambient noise recorded from a restaurant. The study found that silence was better for detail-oriented tasks, but that "moderate noise is better for creative tasks, with 70dB being the sweet spot."

When things get too loud, however, both detail-oriented and creative decline. "At high levels, the noise becomes stressful and then your brain stops processing any information and you become worse at both kinds of tasks," says Mehta.  

Taste, touch, and smell: Apply the comfort principle

In general, says Mehta, anything that puts you in a more relaxed frame of mind will make you more creative, so it stands to reason that smells, tastes and touches that have this effect will help you find novel solutions. However, Mehta cautions that the direct research on the link between these senses and creativity is still in its early stages. This is what we know so far….

Taste: In a forthcoming article, Mehta and other researchers find that sweet tastes have a positive effect on creativity. He explains this effect by reference to human evolution and cultural reinforcement. "The first taste we get of this world is sweet. Mother's milk is sweet. Then throughout our lives, there are birthday cakes and other celebrations where we eat sweet things. Subconsciously, we associate sweetness with relaxation and happiness, and that enhances creativity."

Smell: There's some evidence that pleasant smells can have a positive effect on creativity as well as tasks requiring mental vigilance. However, Mehta says this evidence isn't conclusive. He says that studying creativity and smell is difficult because we get habituated to smell very quickly. "We walk into a room and smell coffee for maybe 10 minutes," says Mehta, "then it's gone. We don't notice it at all."

Touch: Again, any touch that puts you in a better or more relaxed mood should theoretically help your creativity. And there is some evidence that a simple touch on the shoulder can evoke feelings of security and comfort that lead people to take more risks. However, Mehta says, touch is very tricky to study because its meaning depends so much on context. Some shoulder-touches might be comforting, but "some might be totally awkward. This would cause a totally different reaction and hurt creativity." 

 Clifton Mark writes about philosophy, psychology, politics, and other life-related topics. Find him @Clifton_Mark on Twitter.