Drinking beer makes us smart and creative with ‘mild intoxication’ helping boozers have more ‘eureka’ moments
Study found volunteers who drank 5.2 per cent beer performed better in tests than those who were given an alcohol-free version of the beverage
DRINKING beer boosts your creativity by inspiring more “Eureka” moments, a study found.
Researchers say “mild intoxication” helped drinkers relax and cleared mental blocks.
This increased their problem-solving abilities by a fifth.
A group of 70 volunteers aged 19 to 32 took a series of tests before and after downing a pint of alcohol-free beer or one containing 5.2 per cent booze.
They then watched a half-hour documentary on South Africa before taking a series of tests.
This included a game where participants had to find a common connection between words.
For example, when told “cottage, blue, and cake”, the answer is “cheese”.
Those who drank beer performed better in the test after boozing than before.
And those given the alcohol-free variety saw no improvement.
But the drinkers also saw their concentration and memory suffer in other experiments.
The boffins, from the University of Graz, Austria, warn more than a pint may hamper creativity.
Study leader Mathias Benedek said: “While many activities usually benefit from high cognitive control, some may actually suffer from too much focus.
Booze lovers' essentials
“Creative problem solving tasks are often solved by spontaneous insight and accompanied by ‘Aha’ experiences.
“Alcohol may reduce fixation effects by loosening the focus of attention and therefore impede the building and maintenance of dominant but inappropriate thoughts.”
He added: “The findings should not be overgeneralised by assuming that creativity is generally supported by alcohol.
“Beneficial effects are likely restricted to very modest amounts of alcohol, whereas excessive alcohol consumption typically impairs creative productivity.”
The findings are published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition.