Saturday, February 11, 2012

20 Subjects vs. 428 Subjects

Wired is reporting that a study with 428 subjects indicated that being sleepy might aid creativity and that a study with 20 subjects (I checked the ScienceNews report) purportedly indicated that being drunk can aid creativity. I have a question: Why is a study with 20 subjects reported as though it were as sound as a study with 428 subjects? It looks like there is some actual evidence that being sleepy can aid creativity. The claim that being drunk can aid creativity is still as anecdotal as ever.