Monday, May 5, 2008

sharp elbows, sharp mind

did you know...?

Folding your arms un consciously makes your brain sharper, study finds

The mere act of folding your arms increases perseverance and activats an unconcious desire to succeed, new research shows. University students randomly assigned to sit with their arms crossed spent more time on an impossible-to-solve anagram, or word scramble, in one experiment, and came up with more correct solutions to solvable anagrams in another than those told to sit with their hands on their thighs.

The study is the first to show that arm crossing affects people's thinking without them being conciously aware of it. Normally, it's thought that it's a psychological state that leads to a body movement. The study suggests it goes both ways, that a body movement also can trigger a psychological state

source: The National Post (v10, #161)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

so should we all walk around with our arms crossed so we can instantaneously solve anagrams?? But what about that "close personality" we portray with arms crossed?? Now I am confused.

jenn said...

the great geniuses of our world haven't exactly been known as the "people person" type...