"Doodling has ... been shown to enhance our ability to track and remember key aspects of otherwise highly tedious tasks. It seems the slight distraction provided by the random swirls and shapes we draw occupies the brain's cognitive-control mechanisms that help us seek engaging activities and try to steer us away from situations that are not rewarding. But the doodling itself does not require a lot of the brain's processing resources, allowing us to take in and encode whatever else is going on without interference from these "I'm bored and need to do something else" mechanisms.
–– Mark Fenske, author and cognitive-neuroscientist and Professor in the department of Psychology at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Source: "Fidget, squirm, doodle –– and think better." The Globe and Mail, Thursday December 1, 2011, p. L6.
via Sketchbook 17, 2011, p. 38
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