Does doodling help us concentrate better?

It’s 8am on a Monday morning and you’re in class learning about worms. At one point during the lecture you start doodling on the side of your notebook paper. Some people that are sitting next to you, might say to stop doodling because it’s distracting them. This brings me to the question I have and it is, “does doodling help us to concentrate better when in class or anywhere else?”

Margaret Web Pressler on the topic Focus your mind by…doodling? says “Yet today doodling doesn’t get much respect. Most people think that when someone’s doodling, they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing: listening.” This part from the reading reminded me of the day earlier this week when talked about cell phone usage and grading and how its similar to the doodling. The graph from Tuesday  that the final grades dropped lower for people who texted more than once during one class sitting. But there could have been confounding variables due to texting more than once like family issues. Doodling is the same as the texting part, though the confounding variables are different. The confounding variables for doodling can be that it actually helps us to retain information.

There was this one study done at Plymouth University by psychologist Jackie Andre back around 2009. In her study she wanted to find out who really retained more information: the doodlers or non doodlers. To do that she took about 40 people and split them into two groups which were doodlers and non doodlers. Both of the groups had to listen to a recording where someone was talking about a party and who was going to it. They also had to write down the names on the paper, but there was one other thing the doodlers had to do which was doodle. So there was two tasks the doodlers had switch back and forth on. The results from the study concluded that doodlers retain about 29% more information than non doodlers. It’s not 50% but that’s still good.

Jackie has one theory as to why the doodlers retain more information and its because you don’t tend to drift off into outer space when it comes to doodling. When you drift off to la la land thinking stuff like christmas you use a lot of brain power.  Your mind does go places with doodling too, but the brain uses enough power to keep it from wandering off even more.

After researching this I can conclude that doodlers should keep on doodling. They don’t stare off into space for long periods of time like non doodlers do. Also its so much easier to release the emotions you have from a lecture through pictures sometimes than writing. It creates that visual aide.

 

11 thoughts on “Does doodling help us concentrate better?

  1. Kristalia Widjaja

    I definitely found this fact fascinating, because we know teachers always discourage doodling in class thinking that it would distract the students from the teaching. I am guilty of doodling in class at times too, but it’s good to know that doodling in class is not all that bad. Although I do wonder how the multitasking mechanism works here, because we have heard that multitasking is not all that good.

  2. Amber Kay Shojaie

    This is really interesting to me because I frequently find myself doodling in class. I do it nearly daily and I always thought that I was distracting myself by doing this. It’s good to know that I can safely doodle without any harm done to me. Watch this video about how good doodling is for you.

  3. Alexander William Beitel

    I am a frequent doodler when it comes to taking notes and was relieved to see the findings of your research. I agree that doodling can be a good way to stay focused (to a degree) during class. From personal experience, I found that I do listen to the teacher despite the fact that I might be drawing a sailboat or something. When it comes to drawing picture, I think it is important to keep them simple however, because when people begin to make elaborate drawings, they can tune out from class. Another technique that I have been told about was drawing spirals on the page. I was told that drawing these spirals would help stimulate thinking and can be useful when writing a paper.

  4. Alexandra D Hayward

    I doodle all the time on every paper imaginable! This post was spot on for me! Sometimes I dont even know that I am doing it. Thanks for letting me know that it doesn’t mean that doodling is completely affecting my school work!

  5. Alexandra D Hayward

    I doodle all the time on every paper imaginable! This post was spot on for me! Sometimes I dont even know that I am doing it. Thanks for letting me know that it doesn’t mean that doodling is completely affecting my school work!

  6. Elizabeth Sweitzer

    I really liked our post because I was an avid doodler for most of high school, like completely covering the entire note sheet, and then decided to stop because I thought that it was distracting me from paying attention and getting my work done. I am happy to know that I can go back to doodling because it isn’t necessarily distracting me form doing my work.

  7. Brooke Kaiden

    I found this to be interesting because teachers always yell at kids when they doodle on their paper. I think that it helps because it allows students to listen to the teacher but do something that doesn’t make them bored. I think that it is good for students because it makes them concentrate more on what the teacher is saying and they aren’t really focusing on their doodle because it is just a doodle. Interestingly, I found that people with the best doodle, rather than stick figures did better on the tests and in that class.

  8. Natalia Paternina

    This is really interesting! I’m an avid doodler myself, so if this theory is correct then that’s good to know that at least it’s not a waste of time. It’s interesting to see how the brain works, and the different ways we are able to multi task and do several things at the same time. I found this link consistent with the doodling theory, you should check it out!

  9. Jessica M Lee

    I’ll admit, I am an avid doodler especially when I was in high school but lately, I haven’t done it as much. I usually did it because I was really bored by the topics in class or when I was about to fall asleep in class. I feel that if I’m really interested in a particular topic I’ll pay attention rather than doodle because I would not be able to multitask doodling and learning. Here is a source I found that says doodling helps people pay attention.

  10. Lauren Dattilo

    For an extremely un-artistic person, I doodle quite a bit. I had no idea that studies show that doodlers can retain information better! One source I found showed a possible link that doodling and coloring too can also reduce stress for students of all ages. Who says college students can’t use coloring books?

  11. David Jonathan Correll

    When thinking about schoolwork, professors always believe the people who pay attention the entire class compared to those who get sidetracked always will perform better. I was always curious on why certain people in my high school classes did nothing but doodle and it result in their top ranking in the class. It most likely depends on the person, like I know for me, I have a tough time multi-tasking to perform well while doodling.

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