10.May.2010 What does doodling do?

Interesting article:

“Doodling is a way of passing the time when bored by a lecture or telephone call. Does it improve or hinder attention to the primary task? To answer this question, 40 participants monitored a monotonous mock telephone message for the names of people coming to a party. Half of the group was randomly assigned to a ‘doodling’ condition where they shaded printed shapes while listening to the telephone call. The doodling group performed better on the monitoring task and recalled 29% more information on a surprise memory test. Unlike many dual task situations, doodling while working can be beneficial. Future research could test whether doodling aids cognitive performance by reducing daydreaming. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]”

Reference List

ANDRADE J. What does doodling do?. Applied Cognitive Psychology [serial online]. January 2010;24(1):100-106. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 10, 2010.