PsychCrunch

This is Episode 18 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Can psychology help us become more creative? Our presenter Ginny Smith learns how we can develop our creativity with practice, and discovers that our best "Eureka" moments often come when we step away from the task at hand. She also investigates how members of the public fare with the riddles psychologists use to study creative problem solving — see how you get on at home.

Our guests, in order of appearance, are: Professor James C Kaufman, an educational psychologist at the University of Connecticut and author of several books on creativity, and Dr Gillian Hill, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Buckingham and member of the CREATE research team.

Episode credits: Presented and produced by Ginny Smith. Mixing and editing Jeff Knowler. PsychCrunch theme music Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Art work Tim Grimshaw.

Background reading for this episode:

James C Kaufman's paper Creativity Is More Than Silly, More Than Art, More Than Good: The Diverse Career of Arthur Cropley is free to view thanks to our sponsors, Routledge Psychology.

We have dozens of posts on creativity in the Research Digest archives, including:

Thinking About Their Multiple Identities Boosts Children's Creativity And Problem-Solving Skills

Here's What The Evidence Shows About The Links Between Creativity And Depression

The Four Ways To Promote Creativity In Children Come More Naturally To Some Mothers Than Others

How Keeping A Dream Diary Could Boost Your Creativity

Psychologists Have Devised A Test For Measuring One-Year-Olds' Creativity

Teams Are More Creative When Their Leader Is Confident In Her Or His Own Creativity

New Study Finds Strength Of Imagination Not Associated With Creative Ability Or Achievement

And over at The Psychologist, check out Rocky Horror Pixel Show, in which Arne Dietrich explores the problems in figuring out how creativity is represented in the brain.

This is Episode 17 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Can psychology help make running more enjoyable? Our presenter Christian Jarrett speaks to several experts about various strategies including "cognitive reappraisal" and the benefits of taking part in organised runs. He also hears how some of us are genetically disposed to find running less enjoyable than others, and why that isn't an excuse for giving up.

Our guests, in order of appearance, are: Dr Grace Giles (US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick), Dr John Nezlek (SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty in Poznan and College of William & Mary, Williamsburg VA), Dr Marzena Cypryańska (SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw), and Professor Eco de Geus (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam).

Episode credits: Presented and produced by Christian Jarrett. Mixing and editing Jeff Knowler. PsychCrunch theme music Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Art work Tim Grimshaw.

Key research mentioned in this episode:

• A mental technique called "cognitive reappraisal" makes long-distance running feel easier
• Runners Get A Wellbeing Boost From Participating In Organised Races
• Hate sport? Maybe it's because you have the genes that make exercise feel awful

Ella Rhodes, journalist for The Psychologist magazine, delves into the growing body of research exploring aphantasia – a condition she has personal experience of. While most people can see images formed in their minds people with aphantasia draw a blank, what might this mean for autobiographical memory, face perception and imagination?

Our guests, in order of appearance, are: Zoe Pounder at the University of Westminster and Professor Adam Zeman at the University of Exeter.

Background resources for this episode:

This man had no idea his mind is "blind" until last week.

Mental rotation performance in aphantasia.

Loss of imagery phenomenology with intact visuo-spatial task performance: a case of "blind imagination".

Lives without imagery – Congenital aphantasia.

The neural correlates of visual imagery vividness – An fMRI study and literature review.

The neural correlates of visual imagery: A co-ordinate-based meta-analysis.

On Picturing a Candle: The Prehistory of Imagery Science.

The Eye's Mind - Zeman's apahantasia research project.

A scientific measure of our visual imagination suggests it is surprisingly limited

Episode credits: Presented and produced by Ella Rhodes. Mixing Jeff Knowler. Music Sincere Love by Monplaisir. PsychCrunch theme music Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Art work Tim Grimshaw.

This is Episode 15 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Mindfulness is everywhere these days, but is it really as beneficial as it's often made out to be? Our presenter Ginny Smith hears from clinical psychologist Dr Catherine Wikholm(co-author of The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You?); she visits the Cambridge Buddha Centre to meet people who have taken up mindfulness meditation; and she discusses some of the latest mindfulness research trials with Professor Barney Dunn, a clinical psychologist at Exeter University. Some of the evidence is indeed promising, and mindfulness meditation could offer a cost-effective way to help many people with mental health problems. However, Ginny also discovers that many trials are ongoing, mindfulness is not risk free, and it may not suit everyone.

Some of the studies mentioned in this episode:

Mechanisms of action in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in people with physical and/or psychological conditions: A systematic review.

How do mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction improve mental health and wellbeing? A systematic review and meta-analysis of mediation studies

Mindfulness Training Increases Momentary Positive Emotions and Reward Experience in Adults Vulnerable to Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy compared with maintenance antidepressant treatment in the prevention of depressive relapse or recurrence (PREVENT): a randomised controlled trial

The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in Real-World Healthcare Services

The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a mindfulness training programme in schools compared with normal school provision (MYRIAD): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Unwanted effects: Is there a negative side of meditation? A multicentre survey

The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You?

Relevant studies and articles from our own archive:

The Psychology of Mindfulness, Digested

Brainwave evidence hints at benefits from a school mindfulness programme

Brief mindfulness training does not foster empathy, and can even make narcissists worse

Experienced meditators have enhanced control over their eye movements

This is what eight weeks of mindfulness training does to your brain

Mindfulness meditation increases people's susceptibility to false memories

Just fifteen minutes of mindfulness meditation can improve your decision making

How meditation alters the brain

Episode credits: Presented and produced by Ginny Smith. Mixing Jeff Knowler. PsychCrunch theme music Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Art work Tim Grimshaw.

This is Episode 14 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Can psychology help your cooking taste better? Our presenter Ginny Smith hears about the importance of food presentation, pairing and sequencing, and how our perception of food is a multi-sensory experience. She and her friends conduct a taste test using "sonic seasonings" that you can also try at home.

Our guests, in order of appearance, are: Professor Debra Zellner at MontClaire State University and Professor Charles Spence at Oxford University.

Background resources for this episode:

• • The multisensory perception of flavour
  • The supertaster who researches supertasting
  • Wine tastes like the music you're listening to
  • Plating for pleasure: Debra Zellner at TEDxMontclair
  • Do Appetizers Whet or Ruin Your Appetite?

Episode credits: Presented and produced by Ginny Smith. Mixing Jeff Knowler. PsychCrunch theme music Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Art work Tim Grimshaw.

This is Episode 13 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Can psychology help us to learn better? Our presenter Christian Jarrett discovers the best evidence-backed strategies for learning, including the principle of spacing, the benefits of testing yourself and teaching others. He also hears about the perils of overconfidence and the lack of evidence for popular educational ideas like "learning styles" and "brain gym".

Our guests, in order of appearance, are: Nate Kornell, associate professor at Williams College; Paul Howard-Jones, author of Evolution of the Learning Brain(find out more), and professor of neuroscience and education at the University of Bristol; and Abby Knoll, doctoral student at Central Michigan University.

Background reading for this episode:

• It feels as though we learn better via our preferred learning style, but we don't
• "Another nail in the coffin for learning styles" – students did not benefit from studying according to their supposed learning style
• The secret to remembering material long-term
• How to study
• Learning by teaching others is extremely effective – a new study tested a key reason why
• Physically active academic school lessons boost pupils' activity levels and focus
• Engaging lecturers can breed overconfidence
• 'The story of learning begins with the story of life'
• From brain scan to lesson plan

Episode credits: Presented and produced by Christian Jarrett. Mixing and editing Jeff Knowler. PsychCrunch theme music Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Art work Tim Grimshaw.

This is Episode 12 of PsychCrunch the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Download here.

Can psychology help us to be funnier? Our presenter Ginny Smith hears how a key ingredient of humour is "incongruity" and the surprise of unexpected meanings. Individual words too can be amusing, but actually most of the time we laugh not because we've seen or heard a joke, but as a natural part of friendly interaction.

Our guests, in order of appearance, are: Cardiff University neuroscientist Dean Burnett, author of The Happy Brain; psychologist Tomas Engelthalerat the University of Warwick, who co-authored a paper on the funniest words in English; and "stand up scientist" Sophie Scottat UCL, who gave the 2017 Christmas lectures on the neuroscience of voices, speech and laughter.

Background reading for this episode:

• Research on jokes in the Research Digest archive
• Research on laughter in the Research Digest archive
• Engelthaler's study of the funniest words in the English language
• Special issue of The Psychologiston humour
• Do psychologists have a particular taste in comedy?

Episode credits: Presented and produced by Ginny Smith. Mixing Jeff Knowler. PsychCrunch theme music Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Art work Tim Grimshaw.

This is Episode 11 of PsychCrunch the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Can psychology help us get a better night's sleep? Our presenter Ginny Smith hears how worry about sleep is sometimes more of a problem than lack of sleep itself. She gives us some evidence-backed sleep tips and finds out about "sleep engineering" – deliberately manipulating the sleep process to aid memory and enhance its health benefits.

Our guests are Professor Kenneth Lichstein at the University of Alabama and Professor Penny Lewis at the University of Cardiff.

Background reading for this episode:

• "Insomnia identity" – misbelieving you've got sleep problems can be more harmful than actual lack of sleep
• BBC News: Sleep engineering: Cardiff scientists working on designer rest
• Targeted memory reactivation of newly learned words during sleep triggers REM-mediated integration of new memories and existing knowledge

Also, find many more studies on sleep and dreaming in our archive.

Episode credits: Presented and produced by Ginny Smith. Mixing and editing Jeff Knowler. PsychCrunch theme music Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Art work Tim Grimshaw.

It's been a while coming, but this is Episode 10 of PsychCrunch the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Can psychology help us avoid procrastinating and get on with the important things we know we should be doing? Our presenter Christian Jarrett hears about what causes procrastination, how to stop it, and whether it has any upsides. Also, we put the psychologists on the spot and ask whether they've managed to cure their own procrastination.

Our guests are the world experts in the psychology of procrastination Professor Tim Pychyl at Carleton University and Dr Fuschia Sirois at the University of Sheffield.

Studies discussed or alluded to in the episode:

• A critique of the construct validity of active procrastination

• I forgive myself, now I can study: How self-forgiveness for procrastinating can reduce future procrastination

• Procrastination and Stress: Exploring the Role of Self-compassion

• Procrastination and the Priority of Short-Term Mood Regulation: Consequences for Future Self

Also, find more studies on procrastination that we've covered at Research Digest, and Prof Pychyl has further relevant resources at www.procrastination.ca.

Episode credits: Presented and produced by Dr Christian Jarrett. Mixing and editing Jeff Knowler. PsychCrunch theme music Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Additional music: Lynne Publishing, composer Stefan Wolfgang Bode via Pond5. Art work Tim Grimshaw.

This is Episode 9 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Can psychology help us work together better in teams? Our presenter Christian Jarrett hears about the benefits of appointing a "meta-knowledge champion" for the team, making sure everyone has contact with the team's "extra miler", and why you should think carefully about the physical space that you do your teamwork in.

Our guests in order of appearance: Dr Julija Mell (Essec Business School), Dr Alex Fradera (Research Digest writer), and Dr Katherine Greenaway (University of Queensland).

Studies discussed in the episode:

• Why your team should appoint a "meta-knowledge" champion – one person who's aware of everyone else's area of expertise
• Team effectiveness is disproportionately influenced by your group's best performer or "extra-miler"
• Minimalist, anonymous rooms are probably not a good place to do teamwork
• In home or at home? How collective decision making in a new care facility enhances social interaction and wellbeing amongst older adults
• Related resources from The Psychologist: Towards Healthier Meetings and An Interview With Dr Craig Knight: Taking Back Control Of Your Space

Episode credits: Presented and produced by Dr Christian Jarrett. Mixing and editing Jeff Knowler. Vox pops Ella Rhodes. PsychCrunch theme music Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Additional music Zander Sehkri/Zeroday Productions (via Pond5). Art work Tim Grimshaw.