Happiness Can Be Distracting, Researchers Say

A new study reports that feelings of happiness boost creativity--but make it harder to focus on a single task.

As the brain receives data from all of the body's sensory organs--the eyes, nose, mouth, skin and ears--it must decide what is immediately pertinent. Acting much like a spotlight, the mind focuses on the most important information, responding to the task at hand. Being happy can expand the size of the spotlight, giving the brain more room to roam, so to speak.

Negative emotions such as fear and anxiety have the opposite effect, heightening alertness and narrowing the "spotlight," allowing us to focus on solitary things.

Researchers at Stanford University have been learning about this phenomena using music to alter the mood of undergraduate experimentees. They found that subjects exposed to an upbeat version of Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No.4 in G major" were better able to find connections between seemingly unrelated words but had a harder time identifying the letters "H" and "S" as other letters flew by on a computer screen. Those who listened to a down-tempo rendition of the low-key "Alexander Nevsky: Russia Under the Mongolian Yoke" by Prokofiev were better at focusing on the letters but had trouble coming up with creative connections among words.

Researchers suggest the findings might have practical use in the office, recommending workers expose themselves to funny or upbeat media for creative tasks and use mellow media to get themselves in a detail-oriented state of mind.

Read more: Happy is helpful, but fear fosters focus