Doodling isn’t the distraction it’s commonly thought to be, researchers say–in fact, it aids concentration, and memory. A new study suggests that doodling takes up just enough attention to keep the brain from wandering further afield, explains lead researcher Jackie Andrade.
“If someone is doing a boring task, like listening to a dull telephone conversation, they may start to daydream. Daydreaming distracts them from the task, resulting in poor performance. A simple task, like doodling, may be sufficient to stop daydreaming without affecting performance on the main task” [BBC News], Andrade says.
In the small study, published in Applied Cognitive Psychology, Andrade asked 40 volunteers to listen to a monotonous two-and-a-half minute telephone message and jot down the names of people who had been invited to a party. Half of the participants were asked to shade in shapes on a piece of paper while they listened to relieve the boredom. The shading task was chosen instead of more creative doodling because it was less likely to make people feel self-conscious [The Guardian].
In a surprise memory test afterward, the doodling group was able to remember an average of 7.5 pieces of information from the message, while the control group could only remember 5.8 on average. Says Andrade says: “It’s not so much that doodling is good for your concentration, but that daydreaming is bad. If you are thinking about where you are going to go on holiday, that is probably going to be more cognitively demanding than a doodle” [The Guardian].
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Image: flickr / hotcactuspepper
February 27th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Take THAT every single teacher I’ve ever had.
February 28th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Thank you for confirming what my own experience had taught me! I also used to find that my doodles acted like mnemonic devices because as I looked at each drawing I remembered what was being said as I had drawn it. Listening to music as I study also has the effect of helping me focus, contrary to what teachers and parents believe.
February 28th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
A little light shading is one thing but what about the faces and flowers (and skulls, guns, eyeballs and bunny heads on sticks, if that’s your thing), those ‘creative’ doodles that most of spend our doodle time drawing? While I agree with commenter Lee that the occasional simple doodle can serve as a mnemonic device, I can’t help but remember all the times I zoned out in class as I developed my doodles into little compositions, gave them captions and speech bubbles and fictional lives.
This research could be an important wake up for teachers attempting to teach math equations, spelling, historical dates and the like. If students are instructed to put a little individuality, a shade or a colour, into potentially boring lessons, maybe more information will stick.
February 28th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I doodle all the time! I know that it has helped me to concentrate on what is going on.
March 1st, 2009 at 7:40 pm
People have been developing ideas like mind-mapping to assist memory and analysis for years. While this research shows that doodling helps relieve monotony, rather than serve as a mnemonic, what’s surprising is not that spicing up lessons with cartoons and doodles could be helpful, but that teaching methods are so far behind the times in adopting such ideas.
March 1st, 2009 at 11:07 pm
this is so hilarious! i knew my years of doodling were doing SOME good
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:17 am
I’m not a doodler, but I do like to have the TV or music on when I’m working. I seem to concentrate much better and consequently get done faster. Drove my dad nuts, and now boss, despite the fact that I have an actual office rather than a cube and so no one can hear my very low music but me! Perhaps I should forward this… ;-)
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:01 am
Why is this bad news? I will accept anything that will help my kids remember!
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 am
Why is this bad news for teachers? I teach and if doodling will help my students learn and remember, then doodle away!
March 30th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Actually it’s bad news for some teachers around the world, they can get annoyed very easily as their students don’t make eye contact. Some teachers can be happy for them to learn faster, but in fact there can be many teachers who dilike the fact that students doodle in their lesson. In my opinion, I can concentrate whether I doodle or not. I know..pretty amazing!
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Actually, this is good news; teachers no longer have to reprimand kids who are actually listening and concentrating but don’t have their eyes on the teacher at all times…anything that allows kids/people to learn effectively is good news, not bad.
August 13th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I sent a similar article to my daughter Science Teacher from last year. He would yell at students and SEND THEM OUT OF CLASS if they doodled! As if that helped them concentrate!