Thread by @newscientist

Unlike a computer, the human brain is exquisitely sensitive to the context in which in operates. Here are some of the ways your environment can affect the way you work 🧵

Signals embedded in a space communicate to occupants that they are welcome there – or not. For example, female students were much more interested in studying computer science after spending time in a non-stereotypical classroom.

A sense of ownership also has a big impact. When people occupy spaces that they consider their own, they feel more confident and capable. They are also more efficient and productive, less distractible and they advance their own interests more forcefully and effectively.

A study found that when participants worked in an office they could arrange as they liked, they completed 30 per cent more work than they did in a bare office.

Open-plan offices are teeming with distractions, posing big challenges to effective thinking. Research shows that background speech can drastically reduce our performance on tasks like analysing data or writing a report.

More troubling still is the finding that people are less likely to have face-to-face interactions in open-plan offices than in more private workspaces, contrary to the idea that open-plan environments
promote creative interactions.

Find out more in our feature by @anniemurphypaul newscientist.com/article/mg2513…