Doodling 'may help memory recall'

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Doodling could help the mind remain alert during dull tasks​


Doodling may look messy, but it could in fact be a sign of an alert mind, a study suggests.

Plymouth University researchers carried out memory tests on 40 volunteers, asking them to listen to a phone call and recall names and places.

Doodlers performed 29% better than non-doodlers, the team found.

Experts said doodling stopped people from daydreaming, which was a more taxing diversion, and so was good at helping people focus on mundane tasks.

During the study, half of the volunteers were asked to colour in shapes on a piece of paper while they listened to a 2.5 minute telephone message.

The other half were left to their own devices while they listened. Both groups were told the message would be dull, the Applied Cognitive Psychology journal reported.

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Daydreaming distracts them from the task, resulting in poor performance
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Jackie Andrade, lead researcher

Afterwards, both groups were asked to write down eight specific names and eight places mentioned.

The doodlers on average recalled 7.5, while the non-doodlers only managed 5.8.

Lead researcher Jackie Andrade said: "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."

Professor Alan Badeley, from the British Psychological Society, said: "Doodling is a relatively undemanding task so this makes sense.

"The temptation during meetings or telephone conversations that you are not particularly engaged with is to start thinking about things. You visualise things such as holidays.

"That then takes you away from the task at hand. Or you may even end up nodding off.

"However, by comparison, doodling is not that taxing and keeps you more alert so you are more likely to absorb what is being said."

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cool :D i doodle more than i write in lecs...i think this applies to most students (with the exception of geeks)
 
:embarrass oops i should not say that...LI is after all 90 % geeks :giggling: (determined from the thread, asking what our top grades are lol)
 
So this justifies my 'doodling' on the desk when I have no paper at hand, right? Awesome.
 
i etched on the lecture room table ''respect the wombs that bore you'' it took me half an hour to do it,as soon as the lecturer turned away to write on the board i did a bit until i finished,my friend was keeping a look out
 
oh well that's a relief, my pages are more doodle that notes. So that's good, i will carry on doodling without feeling guilty.
 
I once doodled through the entire back half of a Geography exercise book in secondary school.

Then they started inspecting your books before they gave you new ones, to make sure you weren't just wasting paper.

So it was just as well I doodled in pencil.

My uni notes are similarly decorated. Except nobody has to inspect them but me. So I used whatever I darnwell pleased.
 
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Woow!!so it is true...I always used to watch a girl sitting next to me draw patterns all over her paper and wondered how she turned out to be the same person asking questions that were way above our heads at the end of the lecture :X
 
Doodling is like my life :S when ever im bored i always go to pen and paper and dodle, i dont think about it i just let the pen go, and sometimes it turnes out to be a really amazing picture, and when i try to copy it... it just doesnt work :S
 
What if you doodle AND daydream?
Is that indicative of some sort of mental imbalance then?
Have no idea bout who doodles more though.
 
If I'm bored in class I don't doodle, I sleep on the desk or talk with the one sitting next to me...
But when I am studying, I doodle to stay focused. It really does help...
 
i thought doodling was when a person gets doo'py and spit starts dropping from their mouth lol

anyway i never really get a chance to doodle as im taking computing courses... so we barely use a pen and paper. :( i used to be a good one tho :smile:
 
Now thats cool.

u dont wanna see my books its full of doodles.
 
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Lol...my doodling doesn't go much beyond random squiggly lines, but there are guys in my class who spend entire lessons drawing animé - although they might find it a little demeaning for these to be classified as mere "doodles" - putting that much effort into what you're drawing can't really help your concentration!?

nebula said:
i thought doodling was when a person gets doo'py and spit starts dropping from their mouth lol
Click to expand...
:giggling: Drooling...that can happen in class too, if it's just boring enough...
 

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