Some of the most successful people in history have done their best work in coffee shops.

Pablo Picasso, JK Rowling, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, Bob Dylan – whether they’re painters, singer-songwriters, philosophers or writers, people across nations and centuries have tapped into their creativity working away at a table in a café.

Of course, Covid-19 has put the kibosh on lingering for hours in cozy rooms packed with people sipping lattes. As we begin another year living amid a pandemic, many of us continue to work remotely on our own. And if remote work becomes permanent for some – as many experts predict – we might ask ourselves why, when things settle down, we should bother going back out to work in public, only to ostensibly isolate ourselves with our heads down – something we’re already doing at home.

But putting on your noise-cancelling headphones to toil away at your desk is actually different than doing the same surrounded by other people buzzing over your shoulder. There are many ways coffee shops trigger our creativity in a way offices and homes don’t. Research shows that the stimuli in these places make them effective environments to work; the combination of noise, casual crowds and visual variety can give us just the right amount of distraction to help us be our sharpest and most creative. (So, no, it’s not just that double espresso.)

Some of us stick in our earbuds as soon as we sit down to work in a public setting. But scientists have known for years that background noise can benefit our creative thinking.

A 2012 study published in the Journal of Consumer Research showed that a low-to-moderate level of ambient noise in a place like a cafeteria can actually boost your creative output. The idea is that if you’re very slightly distracted from the task at hand by ambient stimuli, it boosts your abstract thinking ability, which can lead to more creative idea generation.

Another study from 2019, which had similar findings, zeroes in on what’s called “stochastic resonance（随机共振）”: originally observed in animals, it’s the phenomenon in which just the right amount of noise benefits our senses. And while that ‘Goldilocks’ level of noise is different for everyone, audio stimuli in the background also help us improve decision making. Some have even dubbed “the coffee shop effect”. So, the jazz muzak, light conversation and barista banging coffee grounds out of the grinder aren’t a nuisance – they could help you come up with your next magnum opus.

There’s also the fact that in a coffee shop, we’re surrounded by people who’ve come to do the same thing as us, which acts as a motivator. A 2016 study backed up this idea when researchers asked participants sitting next to each other in front of a computer to do a task on the same screen. The study showed that “simply performing a task next to a person who exerts a lot of effort in a task will make you do the same”.

“It’s analogous to going to the gym for a workout,” says Sunkee Lee, assistant professor of organisational theory and strategy at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business in Pennsylvania. “One of the biggest things about coffee shops is the social-facilitation effect: you go there, you see other people working and it puts you in a mood where you just naturally start working as well. Just observing them can motivate you to work harder.”

One thing that can making working from home (and the office) feel onerous is the visual environment; often we sit in the same chair and look at the same four walls without reprieve.

“Visual stimulation – how the office is decorated – has an effect on people’s creative thinking process. [It] is called convergent creative thinking,” says Lee. In his research, he’s found that visual variety helps in “solving a problem that has an optimal solution, but requires you to think outside the box”. While Lee tried to address this by adding neon lights to the walls of his home office during the pandemic, he soon found that the wacky furnishings quickly became familiar and boring. Coffee shops, though, generally have visual stimuli in spades. (And hitting up different coffee shops each time keeps things even more varied.)

“Even if you think that you are working in isolation – in the space of your computer screen and noise-cancelling headphones – there are still things going on around you,” says Korydon Smith, a professor of architecture at the University of Buffalo in New York, who co-wrote a recent article on the benefits of working in coffee shops. “People come and go. The daylight changes. The aromas of coffee and food vary. While we tend not take conscious notice of these micro-stimuli, and likely don’t overtly choose to work in this location because of them, these activities around us prod our brains to work a bit differently than at home."

And while the stereotypical coffee-shop user might be a lone worker struggling with a creative endeavour, experts say these café settings can also benefit work groups who are brainstorming and building camaraderie.

“There is an implied formality when gathering on digital meeting platforms. By contrast, there is an air of informality when meeting up at a bar or café,” says Smith. All those audio and visual stimuli help groups, too, compared to the dearth on Zoom or in a formal meeting room.

Office-based meeting spaces or platforms also come with other constraints. “Agendas are not required to meet someone for coffee, but are inherent in a scheduled meeting, virtual or otherwise, which can kill creativity,” says architect Kelly Hayes McAlonie, director of campus planning at the University of Buffalo and one of Smith’s co-authors. She says that university campuses, like open-air offices, have blended elements of coffee shops into their design to prompt people to gather and collaborate, as part of a trend that’s been happening for more than a decade.

One caveat, though: not all public spaces are equally work friendly. “One difference between the café and bar is the level of ambient noise, where many bars have background music and athletics that don’t always promote small-group conversation to the extent that you more commonly find in cafés,” says McAlonie.

With Covid-19 still raging in many countries, many still several months away from being able to work from a coffee shop.

And over the last year, we’ve all – of necessity – found ways to be productive at home. When social-network management company Buffer surveyed 3,500 remote workers around the world for its 2020 State of Remote Work report, it showed that 80% of them prefer to work at home, instead of places like coworking spaces and cafés. That sounds like a lot, but it’s actually a similar figure to 2019 and 2018, meaning lockdowns don’t appear to have made more workers bond with their home offices. That indicates that for some, the thirst for public settings is still there, even after a year of social distancing.

Lee believes that people have those “past experiences of the positive aspects of coffee shops”, and that the “coffee-shop effect” will likely lure us out of our home offices. “No doubt about it, [we’re] going to go back,” he says. Even if working from home remains an option long-term, the benefits of temporarily relocating to a coffee shop may be too good to pass up. “And maybe the coffee is better, too,” adds Smith.

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1.What did a 2012 study on ambient noise in a cafeteria show?

A Ambient noise in a cafeteria can impair your creative output.

B A high level of ambient noise in a cafeteria can improve your creative output.

C A low-to-moderate level of ambient noise in a cafeteria can boost your creative output.

D Ambient noise in a cafeteria has no effect on your creative output.

解析：选C。C 文章引用了2012年发表在《消费者研究杂志》上的一项研究，该研究表明背景噪音有利于我们的创造性思维。研究发现，在自助餐厅这样的地方，低到中等水平的环境噪音实际上可以提高你的创造力。故选C。

2.What is the "coffee shop effect"?

A A term used to describe the negative effects of coffee on the body.

B A term used to describe the positive effects of caffeine on creativity.

C A term used to describe the negative effects of background noise on productivity.

D A term used to describe the positive effects of background noise on creativity.

解析：选D。D 例如，“咖啡店效应”是指咖啡店的背景噪音实际上可以提高创造力的现象。这篇文本文章解释说，噪音、随意的人群和视觉多样性的结合可以让我们分心，帮助我们成为最敏锐、最有创造力的人。故选D。

3.According to the article, why does visual variety help in "solving a problem that has an optimal solution, but requires you to think outside the box"?

A It provides a sense of familiarity and comfort that encourages creativity.

B It stimulates our senses and helps us focus better.

C It helps us break out of repetitive thought patterns.

D It enhances convergent creative thinking.

解析：选C。C 文章作者引用了Sunkee Lee的话，他说“视觉刺激——办公室的装饰方式——会影响人们的创造性思维过程。”Lee发现视觉多样性有助于“解决一个有最佳解决方案但需要你跳出框框思考的问题”。故选C。

4.How do coffee shops benefit groups that are brainstorming and building camaraderie?

A They provide a formal setting that encourages productivity.

B They offer an informal atmosphere that fosters collaboration.

C They have a variety of food and drinks to keep participants energized.

D They provide visual and audio stimuli that enhance convergent thinking.

解析：选B。B 根据这篇文章，“咖啡店也有利于集思广益和建立友谊的工作组。”建筑学教授科里登·史密斯解释说，“在酒吧或咖啡馆聚会时有一种非正式的气氛”，“与Zoom或正式会议室的匮乏相比，所有这些音频和视觉刺激也有助于团队”。故选B。

5.What is the main idea of the article?

A The benefits of working in coffee shops.

B The negative effects of remote work.

C The history of successful people working in public spaces.

D The importance of visual stimulation in creative thinking.

解析：选A。A 这篇文章讨论了在咖啡店工作相对于在家或传统办公室工作的优势。这篇文章提供了各种原因，如噪音和人群的最佳位置、视觉多样性和非正式的氛围，以支持咖啡店可以成为创造力和生产力的有效环境的观点。虽然这篇文章简要提到了新冠肺炎对工作习惯的影响，但它并没有主要关注远程工作的负面影响，也没有讨论在公共场所工作的成功人士的历史。故选A。