University of Plymouth
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01 University of Plymouth Research Outputs University of Plymouth Research Outputs
2010-01
What does doodling do?
Andrade, J
http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/4701
10.1002/acp.1561
Applied Cognitive Psychology
Wiley
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What does doodling do?
Jackie Andrade
School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, U.K.
Address for correspondence: Prof Jackie Andrade
School of Psychology
University of Plymouth
Drake Circus
Plymouth
PL4 8AA
Devon
U.K.
email: j.andrade@plymouth.ac.uk
tel: +44 (0)1752 584807
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Tim Perfect, Michael Verde, Jon May, Samantha Webber, Hayley Penton for their
comments.
Abstract
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 or helping maintain
optimal levels of arousal.
(118 words)
What does doodling do?
The call centre has put you on hold yet again and you start thinking about how good it would
be to have a holiday, where you would like to visit … then you realize that the person you
have been waiting to speak to has already started talking and you haven’t taken in anything
they’ve said. This scenario illustrates the tendency for daydreaming to start in moments of
boredom and, once started, to distract attention from the task in hand. In such a situation some
people resort to doodling, aimlessly sketching patterns and figures unrelated to the primary
task. It is not known whether doodling impairs performance by detracting resources from the
primary task, as would be the case for most concurrent cognitive tasks, or whether it improves
performance by aiding concentration (Do & Schallert, 2004) or maintaining arousal (Wilson
& Korn, 2007). This question ties into more general issues in cognitive and applied
psychology. Boredom is a very common experience (Harris, 2000) and daydreaming is a
common response, even in the laboratory (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006). A way of aiding
concentration would have implications for psychological research methods as well as
practical applications. Dual task designs are commonly used to pin-point specific cognitive
resources needed to perform a task, but they fail to do this accurately if the effects of boredom
are overlooked. Performance decrements through competition for task-specific resources may
be moderated if the secondary task also reduces the mind-wandering or elevated arousal
levels that can be a hidden feature of single task control conditions (Smallwood, O’Connor,
Sudbery & Obonsawin, 2007).
This study is the first experimental test known to the author of the prediction that doodling
aids concentration. Participants listened to a monotonous mock telephone message. An
auditory task was chosen so that doodling would compete minimally for modality-specific
resources. Participants monitored the message for specific, infrequent information and
