Bored With the Meeting? Then Doodle
If you see anyone in your meeting doodling, relax. It means they are concentrating.
According to research out from University of Plymouth psychologist, Jackie Andrade doodling helps keep the brain ticking over and prevents the mind from straying too far away from the immediate surroundings.
She asked 40 participants to listen to a phone message about arrangements for a party. All were told they needed to remember the details and note down the names of the people invited to the party. Half were encouraged to fill in the boxes in their notepaper at the same time.
The doodlers were fractionally, but statistically significantly better at noting down the details of the party arrangements.
The participants were also given a surprise test at the end of the session and it was found the doodlers were 29 per cent better at remembering the names of the party guests.
People who doodle are in eminent company. Famous doodlers (in no particular order) are:
- Prime Minister Winston Churchill
- Software entrepreneur Bill Gates
- President Richard Nixon
- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Hairdresser Vidal Sassoon
- Poet John Keats
(Pic: tauntingpanda cc2.0)