Discover Magazine takes a journey inside the pitch black world of a sensory deprivation tank and reveals the tanks have numerous positive benefits for the mind including increased creativity.
The article reads:
A small study of five university professors found that six 90-minute float sessions allowed them to generate more “creative” ideas, which coincided with a self-reported increase in free imagery and remote associations. Similarly, in a study with 40 university students, a single hour of flotation increased their scores on a standardized test used to measure creativity.
Although boosts to creativity are a prime selling point for float houses, evidence supporting them is sparse. A far better researched effect of flotation is that it enhances performance in a variety of athletic and musical tasks that require high levels of concentration and visual-motor coordination, including basketball, tennis, archery and jazz improvisation. In a sample of 13 jazz students, four sessions enhanced their technical performance one week after the last flotation experience, suggesting the possibility of lasting benefits.