| Title |
Food for creativity: tyrosine promotes deep thinking
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Psychological Research, September 2014
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00426-014-0610-4 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Lorenza S. Colzato, Annelies M. de Haan, Bernhard Hommel |
| Abstract |
Anecdotal evidence suggests that creative people sometimes use food to overcome mental blocks and lack of inspiration, but empirical support for this possibility is still lacking. In this study, we investigated whether creativity in convergent- and divergent-thinking tasks is promoted by the food supplement L-Tyrosine (TYR)-a biochemical precursor of dopamine, which is assumed to drive cognitive control and creativity. We found no evidence for an impact of TYR on divergent thinking ("brainstorming") but it did promote convergent ("deep") thinking. As convergent thinking arguably requires more cognitive top-down control, this finding suggests that TYR can facilitate control-hungry creative operations. Hence, the food we eat may affect the way we think. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 16 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 5 | 31% |
| Japan | 1 | 6% |
| Sudan | 1 | 6% |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | 6% |
| Unknown | 8 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 10 | 63% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 4 | 25% |
| Scientists | 1 | 6% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 6% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 134 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | 2 | 1% |
| Sweden | 1 | <1% |
| Netherlands | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 130 | 97% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 25 | 19% |
| Student > Bachelor | 23 | 17% |
| Student > Master | 20 | 15% |
| Researcher | 14 | 10% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 7 | 5% |
| Other | 17 | 13% |
| Unknown | 28 | 21% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 47 | 35% |
| Neuroscience | 13 | 10% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 7 | 5% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 6 | 4% |
| Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 4 | 3% |
| Other | 23 | 17% |
| Unknown | 34 | 25% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 73. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 25 December 2023.
All research outputs
#576,140
of 25,054,308 outputs
Outputs from Psychological Research
#22
of 1,016 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#5,849
of 258,615 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Psychological Research
#1
of 14 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,054,308 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 97th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,016 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 8.4. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 14 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.