Bad News for Teachers: Research Says Doodling Boosts Concentration

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Aha! I wish I could go back in time to my 5th grade classroom where Mr. Lusher walked by my desk, grabbed my drawing, crumbled it up into a ball and threw in his wastebasket without skipping a beat of his lecture.

......

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].

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/02/27/bad-news-for-teachers-research-says-doodling-boosts-concentration/

[spookyturtle 9,466]

When I first saw the thread title I thought it said diddling. Never mind......

Edited February 28, 2009 by spookyturtle

[Jasman0717 9]

Am I doodling or typing or just type doodling

[Niels Bohr 72]

Then all Fine Arts Major are well qualified scientists, and engineers.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Then all Fine Arts Major are well qualified scientists, and engineers.

You'd be surprised. I made into college calculus and took two semesters of Pascal...before trading in my calculator for a drawing pad.

Edited February 28, 2009 by Mister Fancypants

[Waldo 0]

Does anyone else find this hard to believe. I don't! It's like saying people that play video games are better at operating RC planes. They kinda go hand in hand.

Doodling = tunnel vision = concentration = OCD = . How do you not see it?

Edited February 28, 2009 by Waldo

[Niels Bohr 72]

I doubt that this is real. Most surgeons play video games though, I have to say. It helps them with hand eye co0rdination especially with those first person shooters.

[Waldo 0]

Sick bastards don't get enough of killing people do they? I know when the Wii came out they put it into a lot of retirement homes.

[tmma 467]

Sick bastards don't get enough of killing people do they? I know when the Wii came out they put it into a lot of retirement homes.

Are you saying this is a bad thing? If you are...I disagree. Some folks in those retirement homes just sit all day and do nothing. If a Wii gets them to at least move, or excercise their hand/eye coordination or something then, surely, that's a good thing...no?

I don't begrudge them a Wii.

[Waldo 0]

I'm just pissed that grandma can woop me at tennis now even with her orthopedic shoes off. Nah I'm just joshin ya. I just think it's really funny to watch.