Effects of The Presence of A Cell Phone And Exposure To Natural Environments On Remote Associates Task Performance

Abstract

In today’s advanced information society, creativity in work is highly valued, and there is growing interest in the kinds of work environments that produce more creative outcomes. Recent researchers have demonstrated that when environmental factors change a worker’s attentional state to a diffused state, the worker has access to more information than usual, which can contribute to creativity. Here, we examined whether manipulating environmental factors (the presence of a cell phone and exposure to natural environment) that could affect such attention states would improve performance on the Remote Associates Task, a measure of creativity. Our results showed that the presence of a cell phone increased creative performance regardless of immersion in natural environment. In contrast, exposure to nature did not facilitate creative performance; instead, feelings of pleasure increased, and frustration decreased. These results suggest that the presence of a cell phone can enhance creativity by influencing workers’ attentional states. The current study provides a meaningful approach to enhancing creativity by modulating attentional states through environmental factors. It also highlights the essential features of environmental factors that can moderate creative abilities.

Is Having Your Cell Phone the Key to Happiness, or Does It Really Matter?: Evidence From a Randomized Double-blind Study

“…Because the study primarily focused on perceptual-motor performance, a more direct method is needed to test for the emotional or affective impact of cell phone removal. This would add to the perceptual-motor ndings reported by Liu [13] and further enhance our comprehension of how we are affected by technology.…”

“…Another study [13] explored how having a cell phone nearby affects our ability to perform tasks requiring visual attention. Interestingly, their ndings suggest that having a cell phone in close proximity might not hinder, but rather subtly enhance task performance.…”