Who would have guessed that watching a washed-up comedian do his thang would encourage more creativity and cleverness than a few minutes of watching something intelligent? That’s the findings from Northwestern University, which studied how people react to a puzzle in different moods.
If the participants were loosened up after watching a bit of comedy, the researchers found that they performed better than after watching a scary movie or something intelligent. It’s all to do with the moods the video puts them in, with the area of the brain that works on problem-solving being linked to the level of activity detected in the anterior cingulate cortex.
So there you have it – a valid reason why you should watch Flubber. Because you’ve spent the last 14 years searching for one, I’m sure. [Scientific American]