You have experienced this many times. The best ideas come when you’re washing dishes, walking the dog, or sitting idly.
In the study “Inspired by Distraction: Mind Wandering Facilitates Creative Incubation,” the researchers wanted to test this long-held intuition. Whether letting the mind drift during simple tasks can actually improve creative problem-solving.
They recruited 145 participants (aged 19–32), none of whom had any special training in creativity research. The key measure was performance on a classic creativity test: the Unusual Uses Task (UUT). The UUT asks participants to come up with as many uses as possible for everyday objects, like a brick.
Everyone first tackled two UUT problems for two minutes each. Then participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups:
- Group 1: Demanding task - a memory-heavy number task that kept attention tightly engaged.
- Group 2: Undemanding task - a simple number task with minimal load, allowing the mind to drift.
- Group 3: Rest - they sat quietly.
- Group 4: No break - they went straight back to the next creativity round.
After 12 minutes, everyone was given four more UUT problems. Two were repeat problems to see if they gained fresh insights. They also received two new problems, testing general creativity.
Participants also completed questionnaires about how much their minds wandered during the break.
What Researchers Found
Undemanding tasks led to the biggest creative boost, but only for problems participants had worked on before. What’s more, participants who reported mind-wandering in daily life scored higher on creativity.
Demanding tasks, rest, and no break showed no such effect.
And, the improvement wasn’t because people kept thinking about the problem. The explicit thoughts about the problem were the same across all the groups.
Researchers found that giving your brain space to roam during light activities helps the brain connect the dots and be creative.
Why It Matters
For careers that depend on problem-solving, such as engineering, design, writing, and strategy, this result is very useful. It shows that when you’re stuck on a hard problem, a short, light-load break (walk, shower, dishes) that allows the mind to wander, can help you return with better ideas.
Structured “mental offloading” could be a productivity tool, not a guilty pleasure.
Why This Happens
The authors suggest two possible reasons:
- Connections: Mind wandering allows subconscious associations to surface, creating new links between ideas.
- Network cooperation: Brain scans in other studies show that during mind-wandering, the “default network” (linked to daydreaming) and the “executive network” (linked to control and planning) sometimes work together. This unusual pairing seems to improve creative insight.
How Can You Practice This
- Prime the problem (30–45 min): Work on the task first. Define constraints and attempt a first pass.
- Pick an undemanding break (10–15 minutes): Walk without music or podcasts, fold laundry, shower, light doodling, anything simple and safe.
- Avoid difficult tasks: Skip email triage, coding, or anything that requires analytical thinking. As these tasks grab working memory and block mind wandering.
- Return fast: Re-attack the same problem right after the break.
- Capture sparks: Keep a notes app open or a small card to jot down ideas the moment you resume.
Closing Thought
A wandering mind can feel unproductive and wasteful, but this study shows that it may be one of the most underrated tools for creativity.
Paper Quality (🟡 Moderate)
Solid lab evidence: random assignment, clear outcomes, and consistent stats, but student sample.
| Criterion | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Randomisation & blinding | 🟡 Moderate | Randomised to conditions; blinding not feasible for participants/tasks. |
| Sample size & power | 🟡 Moderate | N=145 undergrads; adequate for ANOVA but single-site. |
| Attrition / adherence | ⚪ Not reported | No attrition details noted. |
| Conflicts of interest | 🟢 High | Authors report no conflicts; funding disclosed. |
Technical Summary
keep reading level to grade 8 and easy to understand for a young professional, stressed for time.
- Study: University lab trial (N=145) testing different kinds of short breaks on creativity.
- Finding: A simple, low-effort task that lets your mind wander boosted creative ideas for problems you’d already tried—not for brand-new ones. p < .01.
- Why does it matter: When stuck, take a light mental detour (walk, shower, easy chores). It helps your brain connect earlier dots.
Around 1 in 2 people say their mind wanders during routine tasks. That drifting may be useful. A study in Psychological Science, titled “Inspired by Distraction,” examined whether brief “incubation” breaks, help creativity. After first attempting creative problems, people took a 12-minute break doing either an easy task (invites mind wandering), a demanding task, quiet rest, or no break. Then they tried again.
The easy task led to the biggest jump in creative originality—but only for the same problems tried earlier (a hallmark of incubation).
Performance on brand-new problems did not improve. Reported mind wandering was higher in the easy-task group, and thinking explicitly about the problems did not explain the boost.
Methods Overview
Participants (N=145; ages 19–32) first did the Unusual Uses Task (UUT)—listing creative uses for everyday objects (e.g., a brick). Then they were randomly assigned to one of four 12-minute conditions:
- Undemanding task (a simple even/odd decision when a colored number appears)
- Demanding 1-back task (monitor the previous number)
- Quiet rest, or
- No break
After the interval, they did four UUTs: two repeated from before and two brand-new.
Creativity was scored by originality (“uniqueness”); fluency (number of non-redundant ideas) was rated by independent judges.
Mind wandering during the interval was measured with a brief questionnaire; trait daydreaming was measured at the end.
Study Design Snapshot
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Design | Randomised between-subjects incubation experiment |
| Participants | N=145 undergrads (35 males, 110 females; 19–32 years), course credit; single U.S. university |
| Intervention / Exposure | 12-min interval: undemanding 0-back-style task vs demanding 1-back task vs rest vs no break |
| Comparator | Demanding task, rest, or no break served as comparators to the undemanding task |
| Outcome Measures | Primary: UUT originality (uniqueness score). Secondary: fluency (non-redundant ideas), mind-wandering ratings, trait daydreaming |
| Follow-up Length | Immediate post-interval testing (no long-term follow-up) |
| Statistical Analysis | Mixed-model ANOVA (Exposure×Condition), univariate ANOVAs, F-tests reported with η², α=.05; no multiple-comparison correction reported. |
Key Findings
- An easy, undemanding task increased mind wandering vs the demanding task (M=2.47±0.66 vs 2.15±0.67; F(1,72)=4.04, p<.05, η²=.05).
- Incubation benefit: Bigger improvement on repeated problems after the undemanding task than after the demanding task, rest, or no break (all p<.01; Exposure×Condition F significant). No benefit for new problems in any condition. (See Figs. 1–2.)
- Not explained by “thinking about the problem”: groups did not differ in explicit thoughts about the task during the interval (p=.90).
- Fluency (number of ideas) did not differ across conditions (p=.39), ruling out a simple “more ideas” explanation.
- Trait daydreaming correlated with originality on both repeated (r=.22, p<.05) and new (r=.20, p<.05) problems.
Numeric snapshot
- Mind-wandering rating (interval): Undemanding 2.47±0.66 vs Demanding 2.15±0.67. F(1,72)=4.04, p<.05, η²=.05.
- Interval task accuracy: ~0.87 vs 0.88 (ns). RT targets: Demanding 518.39±117.55 ms faster than Undemanding 648.97±48.21 ms (F(1,72)=38.93, p<.001, η²=.35).
- Repeated-problem originality: Condition effect p<.01; Undemanding > Demanding/Rest/No-break (each p<.01). New problems: no differences (p=.39).
Limitations Stated by Authors
- Undergraduate sample; limited generalisability beyond students.
- Mind-wandering measure was retrospective (self-report after the interval).
- No long-term follow-up to see if gains persist.
- Did not include broader individual-differences controls (e.g., inhibition).
Critical Notes
- Ecological validity: Lab tasks (UUT, 12-min intervals) may not map 1:1 to workplace projects.
- Rest vs easy task: Quiet rest did not help like the undemanding task; structure might matter.
- Measurement scope: No experience-sampling during the interval; relies on recall.
- Multiple testing: No correction reported for several ANOVAs.
- Conclusions we can bank on: For problems you’ve already engaged with, a brief, low-effort task that allows mind wandering improves subsequent originality, compared with a demanding task, rest, or no break.
Glossary
- Mind wandering: When attention drifts from the main task to internal thoughts; often happens during easy tasks.
- Incubation: A break between attempts on a problem that lets unconscious processing continue, leading to later insight.
- Unusual Uses Task (UUT): A creativity test where you list novel uses for common objects; originality is scored by how unique your ideas are.
- 0-back / 1-back tasks: Simple reaction vs working-memory monitoring tasks; 1-back is more demanding.
- Fluency vs originality: Fluency counts ideas; originality rates how novel they are.
Suggested Reads
- Sio U.N., Ormerod T.C. (2009). Does incubation enhance problem solving? Psychological Bulletin.
- Cai D.J., Mednick S.A., et al. (2009). REM sleep primes associative networks to improve creativity. PNAS.
- Christoff K., Gordon A.M., et al. (2009). Default and executive system contributions to mind wandering. PNAS.