The cognitive benefits of travel

Why do we travel? It's not the flying I mind--I will always be awed by the physics that get a fat metal bird into the upper tropo- sphere. The rest of the journey, however, can feel like a tedious lesson in the ills of modernity, from the predawn x-ray screening to the sad airport malls peddling crappy souvenirs. It's globalization in a nutshell, and it sucks.

And yet here we are, herded in ever greater numbers onto planes that stay the same size. Sometimes, of course, we travel because we have to. Because in this digital age there is still something important about the analog handshake. Or eating Mom's turkey on Thanksgiving. Or seeing the girlfriend during her semester break.

Travel, in other words, is a basic human desire. We're a migratory species, even if our migrations are powered by jet fuel and Chicken McNuggets. But here's my question: is this collective urge to travel - to put some distance between ourselves and everything we know--still a worthwhile compulsion? Or is it like the taste for saturated fat, one of those instincts we should have left behind in the Pleistocene epoch? Because if travel is just about fun then I think the TSA killed it.

The good news, at least for those of youreading this while stuck on a tarmac eating stale pretzels, is that pleasure is not the only consolation of travel. In fact, several new science papers suggest that getting away--and it doesn't even matter where you're going--is an essential habit of effective thinking. It's not about vacation, or relaxation, or sipping daiquiris on an unspoiled tropical beach: it's about the tedious act itself, putting somemiles between home and wherever you happen to spend the night.

I so want to simply cut 'n' paste the whole article here because it's not until much later that Jonah Lehrer gets to the point I observe within myself time and time again when I travel. Even when I only travel somewhere new 30 minutes away.

... our thoughts are shackled by the familiar. The brain is a neural tangle of near infinite possibility, which means that it spends alot of time and energy choosing what not to notice. As a result, creativity is traded away for efficiency; we think in literal prose, not symbolist poetry. A bit of distance, however, helps loosen the chains of cognition, making it easier to see something new in the old ...

Travel, at least the travel I engage in, forces me to think in whole new ways; tackle problems that never happen in my day to day life. I find routine, though comforting, becomes mind numbing over time. I'm not forced to think as I act largely on instinct. When I travel I'm forced to navigate strange streets in a language not my own while I wonder about contingencies if the atm won't work or the credit card is somehow unusable. I see things and experience points of view entirely different from my day to day existence.

When I travel I can't sit still. I could never imagine lounging about in a hotel, a hotel which provides the same experience as every other hotel in the world. Which is the point for many - familiarity and the comfort of being home. I get out and walk, and walk, and walk. I try to experience as much as I can in the time I have. Where at home I am an introvert, abroad I approach strangers and ask them questions. I sit and watch people, observing their behaviour, style, and tastes. I document all that I see and experience.

How can this not have positive cognitive benefits.

Why We Travel by Jonah Lehrer

The cognitive benefits of travel

Why do we travel? It's not the flying I mind--I will always be awed by the physics that get a fat metal bird into the upper tropo- sphere. The rest of the journey, however, can feel like a tedious lesson in the ills of modernity, from the predawn x-ray screening to the sad airport malls peddling crappy souvenirs. It's globalization in a nutshell, and it sucks. And yet here we are, herded in ever greater numbers onto planes that stay the same size. Sometimes, of course, we travel because we have to. Because in this digital age there is still something important about the analog handshake. Or eating Mom's turkey on Thanksgiving. Or seeing the girlfriend during her semester break. Travel, in other words, is a basic human desire. We're a migratory species, even if our migrations are powered by jet fuel and Chicken McNuggets. But here's my question: is this collective urge to travel - to put some distance between ourselves and everything we know--still a worthwhile compulsion? Or is it like the taste for saturated fat, one of those instincts we should have left behind in the Pleistocene epoch? Because if travel is just about fun then I think the TSA killed it. The good news, at least for those of youreading this while stuck on a tarmac eating stale pretzels, is that pleasure is not the only consolation of travel. In fact, several new science papers suggest that getting away--and it doesn't even matter where you're going--is an essential habit of effective thinking. It's not about vacation, or relaxation, or sipping daiquiris on an unspoiled tropical beach: it's about the tedious act itself, putting somemiles between home and wherever you happen to spend the night.

I so want to simply cut 'n' paste the whole article here because it's not until much later that Jonah Lehrer gets to the point I observe within myself time and time again when I travel. Even when I only travel somewhere new 30 minutes away.

... our thoughts are shackled by the familiar. The brain is a neural tangle of near infinite possibility, which means that it spends alot of time and energy choosing what not to notice. As a result, creativity is traded away for efficiency; we think in literal prose, not symbolist poetry. A bit of distance, however, helps loosen the chains of cognition, making it easier to see something new in the old ...

Travel, at least the travel I engage in, forces me to think in whole new ways; tackle problems that never happen in my day to day life. I find routine, though comforting, becomes mind numbing over time. I'm not forced to think as I act largely on instinct. When I travel I'm forced to navigate strange streets in a language not my own while I wonder about contingencies if the atm won't work or the credit card is somehow unusable. I see things and experience points of view entirely different from my day to day existence. When I travel I can't sit still. I could never imagine lounging about in a hotel, a hotel which provides the same experience as every other hotel in the world. Which is the point for many - familiarity and the comfort of being home. I get out and walk, and walk, and walk. I try to experience as much as I can in the time I have. Where at home I am an introvert, abroad I approach strangers and ask them questions. I sit and watch people, observing their behaviour, style, and tastes. I document all that I see and experience. How can this not have positive cognitive benefits. Why We Travel by Jonah Lehrer