13
Enhancing the Creativity of Psychologists Through
Flotation REST
Janet Metcalfe and Peter Suedfeld
Many retrospective reports of highly creative scientists, artists, and
poets suggest that a hypnogogic state of consciousness may be especially
fruitful for the initial stages of creative scientific research or new works
of art.
Perhaps the most famous of these reports is the often cited
discovery of the Fuchsian functions in mathematics, by Poincare, who
discovered the existence of these functions during a state of light sleep.
"For fifteen days I strove to prove that there could not be any functions
1ike those I have since call ed Fuchs ian funct ions.
I was then very
ignorant; every day I seated myself at my work table, stayed an hour or two,
tried a great number of combinations and reached no results. One evening,
contrary to my custom, I drank black coffee and could not sleep. Ideas rose
in crowds; I felt them collide until pairs interlocked, so to speak, making
a stable combination. By the morning I had established the existence of a
class of Fuchsian functions, those which come from the hypergeometric
seri es; I had only to write out the results, wh i ch took but a few hours"
(Vernon, 1970, p. 81). Kekule, too, is reported to have discovered the
structure of benzine during a dream in which he viewed an image of a snake
biting its own tail, which provoked the insight of the ringlike structure of
benzine. More recently, Shepard (Shepard and Cooper, 1987, p. 7) described
the discovery of the phenomenon of mental rotation, a field study that has
had great impact upon our thinking about representation and mental
operat ions wi th i n cogn it i ve psychology. "The very 1i ne of chronometri c
studies of the transformation of mental images assembled in this volume has
its origin in a state of hypnopompic suspension between sleep and wakening,
in the early morning of November 16, 1968. Just before 6:00 A.M. of that
morning and in the absence of any noticed precursors, one of us experienced
a spontaneous kinetic image and three-dimensional structures majestically
turning in space.. Within moments and before full emergence from sleep, the
basic design of the first of the chronometric experiments on "mental
rotation of three dimensional objects,", as it later appeared in the journal
159
P. Suedfeld et al. (eds.), Restricted Environmental Stimulation
© Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 1990
Science (Shepard &Metzler, 1971), took essentially complete--though as yet
completely unverbalized--shape." Shepard notes a number of other creative
acts that have evidently been spurred by free play with images and concepts
that is apparently facilitated by an hypnotic state of consciousness. This
free play of ideas, unimpeded by restrictive judgmental processes, is said
to be of the greatest importance for discovery and understanding. Bruner
(1979, p. 102) notes that "Intuition implies the act of grasping the meaning
or significance or structure of a problem without explicit reliance on the
analytic apparatus of one's craft. It is the intuitive mode that yields
hypotheses quickly, that produces interesting combinations of ideas before
their worth is known. It precedes proof; indeed, it is what the techniques
of analysis and proof are designed to test and check. It is founded on a
kind of combinatorial playfulness that is only possible when the
consequences of error are not overpowering or sinful." Rather than being
specifically taught responses, or even logically deduced conclusions,
creative discoveries appear to involve the playful self-organization of
mental constructs into new structures.
Bowers (1976) has noted the
correlation between standard tests of creativity and hypnotic
susceptibility.
One salient aspect of hypnotizability is the highly
hypnotizable person's ability to temporarily suspend judgmental processes.
Bowers (1987) has also found that highly hypnotizable subjects generated the
correct hunch on a task that involved the convergence or intuitive synthesis
of remote associations on a target more quickly than did unhypnotizable
subjects. This factor was unrelated to verbal intelligence (which also had
an effect on the synthesis task). Self organizing behavior--which appears
to be of great importance for human creativity--may be facil itated by a
state of consciousness that relaxes the usually strong hold of our
preconceived structures and organizations, and analytical judgmental
processes, and for this reason, the hypnogogic state may facilitate the free
play of ideas that is apparently of the greatest importance in mathematical
intuition and creative discovery. In systems-theoretic terms (Haken, 1983;
Kelso & Scholz, 1985; and Pattee, 1974), it may be of importance for
creative restructuring to alter the normal state of consciousness, or to
introduce "noise" into the system (noise, what we mean here is just a state
of control that is different from and less restrictive than the normal state
of consciousness).
There may be a number of methods to induce a state of consciousness
160
that would facilitate the free play of ideas critical to creativity. In the
present experiment, we investigated the method of restricted environmental
stimulation (REST) by means of flotation.
Restricted environmental
stimulation has been intentionally used by a number of creative individuals
to foster their creative abil ities. Shore (1971), observing reports of
three graduate students in chemi stry who underwent sensory depri vat ion,
reached the conclusion that "the sensory deprivation procedure can
participate in the formation and modification of scientific concepts"
(Suedfe1d, 1980). However, no control groups or alternative environments
were used, and so the reported enhancement of creativity cannot be assessed
from Shore's study. Taylor (1985; see this volume) has found that subjects
under flotation REST learned material related to their chemistry studies
better and tended to use more visual imagery. The REST subjects performed
especially well on questions requiring conceptual synthesis.
Suedfe1d
(1980) has pointed out that "There is no scarcity of self-reported creative
thinking while under conditions of isolation and reduced stimulation.
Examples range from Descartes laying the groundwork of his philosophy while
stayi ng in one i so 1ated room "und i sturbed by any cares or pass ions" and
building upon it afterwards "as sol itary and as retired as in the midst of
the most remote deserts" to Raymond B. Cattell citing the solitude needed
for intellectual incubation, which he found among the lonely moors of his
chil dhood and 1ater in" an eyri e" in the Rocky Mountains. To the extent
that creativity is a function or consequence of a relaxed and free flow of
i mages and ideas, one wou1 d expect it to be fac ili tated accordi ng1y.
Clearly, the usefulness of REST in facilitating the productivity of artists,
scientists, and other creative individuals deserves careful exploration.
METHOD
Subjects
The participants were seven full-time faculty members of the Department
of Psychology at the University of British Columbia, including the first two
authors on thi s paper. Data were analyzed inc 1udi ng and exc 1udi ng the
authors (who had di vergent opi ni ons about the expected results of the
experiment) and the trends in the data were unaffected by their inclusion or
exc 1us i on. The part i c i pants were a11 act i ve researchers in the areas of
psychobiology, cognition, perception, social psychology, and measurement
theory. All participants except J.M. were male. Ages ranged from early
161
30's to late 40's. Only one participant (P.S.) had previous experience with
flotation REST.
Procedure
Multiple sessions in each of two environments were used with each
subject ina counterbalanced order.
The control environment was the
subject's own desk. For the control sessions subjects were instructed to
sit at their desk, with the door to the office closed, and dictate ideas
related to their research continuously into a microphone for 90 minutes.
Only data from the first 30 minutes were used because the number of ideas
decreased dramatically after about fifteen minutes of dictation. Subjects
were somewhat restricted in the control environment insofar as they were
disallowed telephone calls, office visits from students, chatting with
friends or colleagues, or leaving the office.
The experimental envi ronment was fl otat i on REST.
These sess ions
consisted of 60 minutes of flotation in a dark, quiet flotation tank
containing approximately 30 cm. of dense Epsom salts solution in 92 degree
water. The surrounding air was also controlled to approximately 92 degrees.
The dense Epsom salts solution allowed the subjects to float without undue
muscular stress with the face and ventral body surface out of the water, and
with normal breathing. Subjects were monitored continuously by means of an
intercom in the tank connected to an adjoining room. Subjects were able to
1eave the tank eas il y by merely openi ng a hatch, or by request i ng the
monitor's help. The end of the sixty minute REST session was signalled by
soft piped-in music that slowly increased in volume. The subject then
showered (to remove the salts) and proceeded to a semi-dark, quiet room next
to the flotation room, where the next half hour was spent dictating research
ideas into a tape recorder. Before beginning dictation, in both the REST
sessions and the Control sessions, subjects completed a Profile of Mood
Scale (POMS; McNair, Lorr & Droppleman, 1971) that allowed assessment of
various aspects of their mood states.
Subjects participated in sessions at approximately one-week intervals,
with the sessions in each condition being blocked within subjects and
counterbalanced across subjects. Most subjects participated in six sessions
in each condition, but, because of scheduling difficulties, some
participants went through fewer than the projected twelve sessions. The
first session results were not analyzed. Because most of the participants
were unfamiliar with flotation, it was thought that this session might have
162
effects different from the later sessions (Forgays & Belinson, 1986). In
addition, none of the subjects had practice in free dictation over extended
periods, so the first session also familiarized them with that procedure.
Scoring
The tape recordings generated from each session were transcribed and
returned to subjects approximately three months following their last
session. They were asked (1) to demarcate idea units in the transcripts,
(2) to i nd i cate whether the idea was a new one, or one that they had
previously thought about, (3) to rate on a 1 to 10 scale the quality of each
idea. The four middle sessions, in each condition, were used for the
analyses reported below (since not all subjects had a sixth session in both
conditions).
As well as the subjects' own ratings, an integrative
complexity analysis on the idea rated as most creative in each session was
conducted. A count of the number of words spoken within the half hour
interval was also made. In addition, subjects participated in a post-float
interview.
Finally, about 15 months after the initial sessions, subjects were
asked to identify ideas that had led to new research, publications, grant
proposals, etc., to which six of the seven responded.
RESULTS
The data of primary interest are shown in Table 1. An analysis of
variance revealed that the quality of new ideas generated under REST was
rated as being higher than those generated under control conditions, £(1,4)
= 8.97, 11.<.05.
The value of the most creative new idea was also higher
under REST than in the control condition, £(1,4) = 7.67, 11.<.05. There was
a decrease in quality of the most creative old ideas over sessions, £(3,16)
= 4.32, 11.<.05, but otherwise sessions had no effect. No other main effects
or interactions based on the subjects' ratings of ideas were significant in
this experiment. In addition, there were no differences in the scored
integrative complexity, as a function of environments or sessions. Overall
complexity was about the same as that shown by eminent diplomats of the 19th
and 20th centuries (Wallace & Suedfeld, 1986), but was lower than that of
presidential addresses delivered to the American Psychological Association
(Suedfeld, 1985). Although we had expected that speech rate might be slower
in the REST conditions, there were no differences on this measure.
Overall, the Profile of Moods Scale did not show differences across
163
conditions; however, a number of subscales of the test did indicate
differences in affect as a function of REST. The data consistently showed
less tension, anger, depression, fatigue, and confusion following REST,
Measure
Number of old ideas
Number of new ideas
Quality of old ideas
Quality of new ideas
Best old idea
Best new idea
Table 1
Mean Results on Ideas (5 subjects)
REST
s.d.
M
4.35
5.90
5.03
5.91
6.60
7.65
4.38
2.77
2.51
1.01
2.11
1.31
M
CONTROL
s.d.
4.60
4.65
5.17
4.83
6.70
6.00
4.60
3.47
2.24
1.43
2.18
1. 91
although these scores, with our subject population, were all quite low even
under control conditions. Slightly higher vigor was reported in the REST
In short the POMS indicated
cond it i on than in the control cond it ion.
somewhat more positive moods were attained after REST than in the control
condition. The post-float interviews also indicated that subjects had
enjoyed the flotation sessions, and that many had experiences approximating
what Budzynski (1976; see this volume) termed a "twilight" state of
consciousness. Such a state is not tapped by the mood questions in the
POMS. The major reported characteristics of the flotation experience in
this study were (a) disorientation in time and space, (b) suspension of
critical, analytical or judgmental thinking, (c) vivid imagery and short
dreams, and (d) a nonverbal experiential state. One subject differed from
the other six in not reporting such states, however, and mentioned that he
found it difficult to change topics and that he continued to think in a
linear manner. His protocols revealed that he had considered primarily
methodol ogi cal issues rather than theoret i ca 1 and metatheoret i cal issues
following both the REST and the control creativity sessions.
The assessment of ideas produced from the sessions that resulted in
experiments, grant proposals, etc. revealed that there were over 30 such
164
items in progress from the session, 12 to 15 months following the
experi ment, based on six subjects. However, many of these i terns were
discussed, in part, in both flotation and control sessions, so we were
unable to pinpoint their locus to particular environments in the study.
DISCUSSION
The results of this study indicate that creativity may be enhanced by
fl otat i on REST. However, we hasten to poi nt out the 1i mitat ions of the
study.
The sample size was small, and was restricted to academic
psychologists. It would be of great interest to investigate the usefulness
of REST for artists, poets, musicians, and other scientists. The assessment
of creativity was based on self-rating of ideas. In future studies it would
be worthwhile having independent assessment of the goodness of creative
ideas. One might certainly argue that the self rating is not objective. It
may be the case, however, that such assessments determine those ideas to
which scientists and artists will devote their attention and efforts (and so
may nevertheless be important).
Perhaps the enhancement of creativity
emanating from an hypnogogic state, as is often reported by creative
individuals, results only because those particular ideas made an intense
impression on the individual, and subsequently were accorded special
consideration. While we cannot refute this idea, we do not think our
results are attributable to simple demand characteristics.
Subjects'
expectations about the efficacy of REST, as indicated by their postflotation interviews, were generally contrary to the findings of the study.
Five of the seven subjects reported that they believed that flotation had
either no effect or a deleterious effect on the creativity of their ideas.
The failure to find increased ratings on old ideas also obviates a simple
demand characteristics interpretation.
Finally, in assessing the efficacy of REST on enhancing creativity, as
based on the present study, it is important to note that our subjects were
highly involved and well-prepared creative individuals. In his classic
work, Wallace (1928) suggested that there may be several stages involved in
the creative process. The first of these is preparation, or intensive and
often extended conscious work on the problem of concern. Given that our
subjects were all active researchers, it is reasonable to suppose that they
were well prepared.
The second stage indicated by Wall ace is one of
incubation, and it is this stage that presumably is enhanced by relaxation,
165
isolation and a hypnogogic state as appears to be facilitated by flotation
REST. It seems unlikely to us that a hypnogogic state, without intensive
preparation and involvement, will of itself facilitate creativity. Indeed,
studies of naive subjects who were tested under REST conditions for
original ity with the Alternate Uses Test (Suedfeld, 1969) showed poorer
performance than did control subjects. The involvement and preparation of
these subjects may have been quite different from that of our subjects and
those of Taylor (1985) who showed enhanced creativity with REST. The
results of the present research are consistent with the self reports of
discovery experiences by creative individuals and also with the reports of
individual subjects who have used REST in efforts to enhance their
creativity. However, the conditions under which such enhancement is to be
found are not yet clearly specified and further investigation of the
incubation stage of creativity as well as the precursors to that state, and
the generality of the enhancement of creativity under REST, remain to be
explored.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was facilitated by two grants from the Natural Sciences
and Engineering Research Council of Canada: A0505 to J.M. and A9589 P.S.
We thank Susan Bluck, Leslie Kiss, Paula Ryan, and our five colleagues who
participated in the study.
REFERENCES
Bowers, K.S. Hypnosis for the seriously curious. New York, NY: W.W. Norton
& Company, 1976.
Bowers, K.S. Memory, intuition, and Meno's paradox. Presented at the
American Psychological Association, August 1987, New York.
Bruner, J. On knowing. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University
Press, 1979.
Budzynski, T.H. Biofeedback and the twilight states of consciousness. In:
G.E. Schwartz & D. Shapiro (Eds.) Consciousness and self-regulation:
Advances in research. New York, NY: Plenum, 1976, Vol. 1, 361-385.
Forgays, D.G. & Belinson, M.V.
Is flotation isolation a relaxing
environment? Journal of Environmental Psychology, 1986, §, 19-34.
Haken, H. Synergetics: An introduction to noneguilibrium phase transitions
and self-regulation in physics, chemistry, and biology.
Berlin:
166
Springer-Verlag, 1983.
Kelso, J.A.S. & Scholz, J. Cooperative phenomena in biological motion. In
H. Haken (Ed.) Computer systems
Ooerational approaches in
neurobi 01 ogy, phys i ca 1 systems, and computers. Berl in: Spri ngerVerlag, 1985, 124-149.
McNair, D.M., Lorr, M. & Droppleman, L.F. Profile of Mood States (Manual).
San Diego, CA: Educational and Testing Services, 1971.
Pattee, H.H. Discrete and continuous process in computers and brains. In:
M. Conrad, W. Guttenger & M. Dal Cin (Eds.) Physics and mathematics
of the nervous system. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1974.
Poincare, H. Mathematical creation.
In P.E. Vernon (Ed.) Creativity.
Markham, Canada: Penguin, 1970, 77-88.
Shepard, R.N. & Cooper, L.A. Mental images and their transformations.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986.
Shepard, R.N. & Metzler, J. Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects.
Science, 1971, lll, 701-703.
Shore, E.
Sensory deprivation, preconscious processes and scientific
thinking. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1971, 41 574-580.
Suedfe 1d, P. Changes in i nte 11 ectua 1 performance and suscept i bil i ty to
influence. In J.P. Zubek (Ed.) Sensory deprivation: Fifteen years of
research. New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1969, 126-166.
Suedfeld, P. Restricted environmental stimulation: Research and clinical
applications. New York: Wiley &Sons, 1980.
Suedfeld, P. APA presidential addresses: The relation of integrative
complexity to historical, professional and personal factors. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 1985, 49 1643-1651.
Taylor, J.W. The effects of flotation restricted environmental stimulation
therapy on learning subjective evaluation and EEG measurements. In
T.H. Fine &J.W. Turner, Jr. (Eds.) Proceedings of the First International Conference on REST and Self-Regulation. Toledo, OH: IRIS Publ.,
1985, 76-85.
Wallace, M.D. & Suedfeld, P.
Leadership performance in crisis:
The
longevity-complexity link. Unpublished MS, Univ. of British Columbia,
Vancouver, 1986.
167