DanceDance Creativity

Sundar and Hutton at Penn State, had participants play DanceDance Revolution and subsequently measured their arousal and mood. Both happy and sad players (and at either extreme of high or low arousal) tested as more creative (and what does that test mean?)

I faintly recall anecdotes of mathematicians who had brilliant thoughts while riding a bicycle, and can recall some inspired moments during exercise. Because DanceDance Revolution requires footwork and it can be a form of exercise, I wonder: how would the results compare to non-videogame exercise, and how would non-exercise videogames (those that say, only require hand activity) compare these results? Perhaps they are in the forthcoming paper?

/science - permalink - comments