Someone is talking during a long meeting, lecture or phone call, and your hand starts moving across the page. You draw circles, flowers, boxes or meaningless patterns while continuing to listen. To another person, it may look like you have stopped paying attention. But psychology presents a more complicated picture. Research suggests that doodling can sometimes alter attention and memory, particularly during monotonous tasks, although it is not universally helpful and should not be confused with purposeful drawing. In a well-known experiment by psychologist Jackie Andrade, participants who shaded shapes while listening to a dull telephone message later recalled about 29% more information than participants who simply listened.
