Why do people doodle?

If you find yourself spacing out during that work meeting or losing concentration on the phone, doodling might be a good way to keep your mind alert.


Asked by: Faraz, London

Surprisingly, doodling while chatting on the phone or sitting through a meeting may be an instinctive way to maintain concentration and retain more information. The idea is that doodling adds just enough effortless stimulation to use up your brain’s spare attentional capacity, keeping your mind active and preventing you from spacing out entirely.

Recent research at the University of Waterloo, Canada, suggests that an even better strategy than free-form doodling is to create drawings that are relevant to what you’re learning.

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