Sunday, March 18, 2012

Adrian Newey and the chromatic conditions for creativity

"On joining McLaren in 1996, [Adrian Newey] immediately had his drawing office repainted in duck egg blue, a dramatic counterpoint to the muted grey decor that dominated the building.

"Dennis strode in unannounced, took a good long look at his technical director's revisionist taste of colour, and walked out without making a comment. The matter was never raised again," (Alan Henry, Autocourse 2009-2010, p33).

"Researchers...have observed so-called alpha waves, produced when the brain is relaxed but awake...suddenly flood the right brain roughly eight seconds before an idea pops into mind...[Creativity can be encouraged by, amongst other things] the colour blue (working in a blue room tricks the brain into releasing alpha waves)," (Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times 18/03/2012, previewing 'How Creativity Works', by Jonah Lehrer).

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