Creativity and Decision-Making

Thalassicus

Bytes and Nibblers
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Newsweek: The Science of Making Decisions

This is a rather interesting article I came across, that might give some insight into how the brain works when making decisions or doing creative tasks. Over the span of years of my job as a programmer and modding as a hobby, I gradually realized I work best at creative tasks (like modding) right after coming back to it from an extended break. Mechanical tasks aren't an issue, but anywhere we need to make decisions, or come up with novel new ideas, this seems to apply.

Until now I didn't realize there might actually be an underlying reason for that. I thought it was just my own personal preferences in how to get work done. However, I've seen articles in several magazines now (Newsweek, Scientific American, etc) that indicate it's likely simple information overload. The brain generally places importance on tidbits of information equally, no matter how relevant those tidbits might be, and it favors the most recent data. As we try and take more and more information into our thought process, the brain isn't capable of filtering out the important information from the unimportant, and actually loses good decision-making capability. I've experienced the extreme described in the article quite often, especially when programming. Coding requires keeping a lot of complex ideas in the mind at once. As I try to wrap my head around some huge algorithm, if I go too far it feels like everything just shuts down.

It's not easy to apply in the workplace, but for a hobby it's definitely achievable to do an on-again, off-again style. For example, when working on my old Warcraft 3 map I discovered I was most productive for the first week or so after not working on it in a while. Eventually my ideas ran out, I moved onto other things, then came back a few months later and had tons of great new ideas.

When an on/off style isn't an option, while working at one creative project for an extended period of time, I've found it helps a lot to switch between different "categories" of tasks that require different skills. For a few weeks I might go on a Lua coding spree, then the next few weeks do lots of balancing work with data edits, while another week I might work on the user interface.

Anyway, hopefully some of these insights from the article, or my own thoughts on the subject, might help when you're working on your own mods! :thumbsup:
 
Totally agree. Incidentally, I'm kind of taking a break from modding at the moment ;)

What the author describes in that article actually aligns perfectly with my own experiences. I'm lazy and arrogant and therefore always trust my subconscious to make decisions for me. I've always felt kinda bad about this (not bad enough to actually start really thinking about things, though) but apparently, it's the way to go :mischief:

The urgency point is very relevant in my opinion. I often don't respond to emails for a day or so if they include a decision to make, simply because want to adhere to the old adage of "sleeping it over". In my experience, the brain just needs time to sift through the information you gathered and in the morning, you often have a well-formed opinion about which option you should take.

I also know the problem of too many choices when you try to buy something, I always get that when I deal with computer hardware and so on - so I usually just read some tests and then pick something that sounds good. It did surprise me, though, that the brain already shuts down at more than 7 options.
 
It probably varies from person to person, but yea, it's a very small number. It makes sense... until the past few decades human beings never really had to deal with dozens or hundreds of options. Until the 1980's there were still basically only 3-4 TV stations to watch. :lol:
 
Broadly speaking, that matches my experience as well. Sometimes it's a case of working on what your subconscious wants you to work on (deduced by what it's throwing out ideas for), I think. Also, it is why just working harder when you've been really busy doesn't work in any sort creative or critical occupation. My problem is that almost everything I do for study, work or hobby is creative and/or critical. Maybe I need more break.
 
I must agree with this. I'm a musician and always come up with good new things after not playing for at least a week or so.

This is not good though, now that I know this I'll have to choose between quantity and quality.
 
This had JUST happened to me... Making my ATOM mod for a while I ran out of ideas - I was banging my head against a wall trying to get past a roadblock. A few months later coming back, I just breeze over the problem.
 
Decision Fatigue

Here's another interesting article on decision making. It discusses how the more decisions we make in a short period of time, the more we choose inaction in later decisions. It's a concept closely related to the mental burnout described in the first article.
 
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