I found one study on the effect of noise on creativity from coffitivity.com (http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/665048). There is another similar website called noisli (http://www.noisli.com/). These websites state that background noises (that are at least moderate in volume) boost creativity. I'd like to know if there are more studies on this idea or any leads.
Thanks!
Give a look at:
http://jcr.oxfordjournals.org/content/jcr/39/4/784.full.pdf
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10400419109534410
http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1975-06357-001
Verônica
I would think that the impact of noise on creativity is probably different for each person! Flow requires reaching an optimal level of arousal which will differ depending on the person's baseline arousal levels and stress levels for example. People who are more sensitive to noise (often introverted people) may need silence in which to work creatively, while other people find absolute silence disturbing and will reach their optimal level of stimulation with some noise around.
Any study that ask the impact of X on Creativity is in methodological difficulty if you do not define first what Creativity is - a highly controversial area. So you may want to specify first what you are after with creativity, or split creativity up into better researchable aspects under different noise regimes such as number of generated ideas/hour; degree of difference in solutions from established examples; or association generation.
That is a good point Henri. I've been defining creativity as "generating ideas" when solving problems and being "critical" and eliminating ideas when solving problems. So it's about being a creative problem solver. But I guess that too is somewhat vague.
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