Arne de Vet of Tilburg University says in his Ph.D. dissertation that a group with at least one person who is relatively introverted can double the amount of new ideas if they take some time for silent thinking.

De Vet examined social and cognitive psychology literature of the last 30 years that involved 400 study participants, and found talking and thinking at the same time -- what often occurs at meetings -- lowers the creativity for some people.

This multitasking of thinking and talking requires a lot of brain capacity, especially for those who are sensitive to reactions and opinions of others, de Vet said.

However, the study found five minutes of quiet thinking during a 45-minute meeting doubled the amount of ideas of the group.