Understanding Doodles

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Understanding Doodles

March 23, 2009. By Peter Lloyd

"Pay attention!" my teacher used to snap, whenever she caught me doodling. I learned, like most of us, that most people interpret doodling as inattention. Now we have news that we're wrong. Doodling doesn't reduce concentration, it enhances it.

In "Bored? Try Doodling To Keep The Brain On Task," Alix Spiegel of npr reported that Jackie Andrade, a professor of psychology at the University of Plymouth, tested doodlers against non-doodlers. She had them listen to a boring telephone message. Then she tested their memory of the message.

The doodlers remembered about 29% more detail than those who apparently paid attention. The listeners, unable to maintain interest, zoned out. In contrast, doodling helped prevent the doodlers from drifting off.

Barack Obama doodle

Was the President listening when he doodled this?

Maybe you've noticed that walking, showering, and other routine activities that occupy the business part of your brain allow your creative voice to be heard. That's why we have some of our best ideas in the shower.

Aimless scribbling, like walking or showering, draws from the unconscious mind in the same way. To hear that it also focuses attention and improves memory begins to raise all sorts of questions.

Should we encourage doodling at boring meetings?
Hand out unlined sketch pads rather than ruled legal pads?
Should we question someone's attention when they listen with rapt eye contact?
Make students hand in their doodles at the end of class in order to make sure they were paying attention?
How about doing two things at once as a creative thinking technique?

We get some of our best ideas, at least our most creative ideas, from our unconscious. Daydreaming is a great source of creative ideas, because daydreams come from the unconscious. Doodling apparently puts the product of the daydreams on paper, while taking our attention off of the daydream.

It's like getting into the flow of anything—musical improvisation, your golf swing, dancing, writing, brainstorming—anything creative. Don't think about it and you do it better.

The folks at Nike nailed it when began to encourage great athletic achievement with "Just do it!" From them, we can derive the ultimate creative cheer, "Just doodle it!"

Listen to the song "Doodles of You."

Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest business problems.

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