Moveability helps us think more flexibly

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Moveability helps us think more flexibly

The ANI Movement in Wurzburg Germany helps us think creatively. This insight is over 2000 years old and is already known to philosophers in ancient Greece. What is the relationship between movement and cognition from a scientific point of view? What happens to the brain when we walk? Are people who rarely move creative?

Neuroscientist Dr Barbara Handel from Julius-Maximilians Universityitat Wurzburg JMU in Bavaria, Germany said that the research shows that movement per se helps us think more flexibly.

She and her doctoral student Supriya Murali conducted experiments that have been described in a recent publication in the journal 'Psychological Research'.

Handel said that freedom to make self-determined movements has been responsible for people to think more flexibly.

Even small movements while sitting can have the same positive effects on creative thinking. The researcher does not derive any concrete movement suggestions from her work: The freedom to move without external constraints is important. She said that movement is not forced or suppressed. This happens when people focus on a small screen for example, according to the JMU researcher.

The increased use of mobile phones and similar devices could have a negative effect on cognitive processes, such as creativity, as well as in the field of education at the time of the Corona epidemic.

What do sensory stimuli have on the peripheral nervous system and brain? How do body movements affect perception of sensory input? Barbara Handel, a researcher, has been interested in such questions for a long time.