来源：《自然》
原文刊登日期：2022年4月27日
Early in 2020, workers around the world were plunged into a new reality of remote working. In doing so, they also participated in a series of unexpected global experiments: social scientists have spent much of the past two years analysing what happens when face-to-face exchanges are replaced by online meetings. And their results are starting to come in. The pandemic has taught the world about hybrid working. Now, there’s growing evidence for employers to use when deciding about the future work environment.
2020年初，全世界的工人都陷入了远程工作的新现实。在这样做的过程中，他们还参与了一系列意想不到的全球实验：过去两年的大部分时间里，社会学家都在分析当面对面交流被在线会议取代时会发生什么。他们的研究结果开始显现。这场大流行让世界了解了混合工作。现在，越来越多的证据可供雇主在决定未来工作环境时使用。
Research published in Nature this week proposes that, in some instances, in-person collaboration can foster greater creativity than when people work together using videoconferencing. Melanie Brucks at Columbia University and Jonathan Levav at Stanford University combined laboratory-based and field research to assess the impact of remote working on creativity. As part of the study, the team created an experiment involving a group of around 600 people, split into pairs. One set of pairs worked together in the same space; the second set collaborated virtually from separate rooms. Each pair was given five minutes to come up with creative uses for two everyday objects. The researchers found that the pairs collaborating through Zoom-style videoconferencing generated fewer innovative ideas than did those working in the same physical space.
本周发表在《自然》(Nature)杂志上的一项研究提出，在某些情况下，面对面的合作比通过视频会议一起工作更能激发创造力。哥伦比亚大学的梅勒妮•布鲁克斯和斯坦福大学的乔纳森•莱瓦夫结合实验室和实地研究，评估了远程工作对创造力的影响。作为研究的一部分，该团队创建了一项实验，涉及约600人，每两人配对。一组配对在同一个空间工作；另一组配对在不同的房间里远程合作。每组有五分钟的时间想出两件日常用品的创意用法。研究人员发现，通过zoom风格的视频会议进行合作的人比在同一物理空间工作的人产生的创新想法更少。
The researchers then tested whether their lab-based results stood up to real-world conditions. To do this, they studied around 1,500 engineers working for a telecoms company with offices in 5 countries. Once more, the group was divided into virtual and in-person pairs and given a task similar to that in the lab-based study. The results held — in-person teams came up with more creative ideas than did remotely based teams.
然后，研究人员测试了他们基于实验室的结果是否符合实际情况。为此，他们研究了一家在5个国家设有办事处的电信公司的大约1500名工程师。再次，每两人配对，分成远程和面对面两组，并被赋予与实验室研究类似的任务。结果显示，与远程配对相比，面对面配对提出了更多的创意。
So, why was physical proximity better for creativity in these experiments? As one possible explanation, the researchers found that creativity correlated with the ability to move about, and to look around at the contents of a room. Pairs that were more creative spent more time looking at their surroundings. The virtual pairs, by contrast, tended to stay fixated on their computer screens, narrowing the focus of their ideas to a small rectangle.
那么，为什么在这些实验中，身体上的接近更有利于创造力呢？一种可能的解释是，研究人员发现创造力与四处走动和环顾房间内物品的能力有关。更有创造力的配对会花更多的时间观察周围的环境。相比之下，远程配对则倾向于盯着电脑屏幕，把他们的想法集中在一个小矩形上。