Bad News for Teachers: Research Says Doodling Boosts Concentration

Image via Wikipedia

"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."

From Denny: As a class "A" doodler I now hearby feel vindicated. These days it's called mind mapping. :) Seriously, it does make sense for people to doodle because of one thing: the brain thinks in pictures!

What's fun about doodling is that the images are symbols of detailed meanings specific to that one person. You have your own encrypted code! You have to know the person well in order to hack their internal computer.