What do the random, scribbled (潦草的)drawings crowding the margins (页边空白处) of most high school students' papers mean? When a student is caught doodling (乱画) in class, he will probably be criticized for daydreaming. But doodling while listening can help with remembering details, rather than implying that the mind is wandering, according to a study published in the scientific journal Applied Cognitive Psychology.
In an experiment conducted by the Medical Research Council's Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, 40 subjects were asked to listen to a two-minute tape giving several names of people and places. Half of the participants were asked to shade in shapes on a piece of paper at the same time, without paying attention to neatness, while the rest were given no such instructions. After the tape had finished, all participants in the study were asked to recall the names of people and places. The doodlers recalled on average 7.5 names of people and places, compared to only 5.8 by the non-doodlers.
"If someone is doing a boring task, like listening to a dull telephone conversation, they may start to daydream. " said study researcher, Professor Jackie Andrade, of the School of Psychology, University of Plymouth. "Daydreaming distracts them from the task, resulting in poorer performance. A simple task, like doodling, may be sufficient (足够的) to stop daydreaming without affecting performance on the main task. "
"In psychology, tests of memory or attention will often use a second task to selectively block a particular mental process. If that process is important for the main task, then performance will be impaired. But my research suggests that in everyday life doodling may be something we do because it helps to keep us on track with a boring task, rather than being an unnecessary distraction (分心) that we should try to resist doing. " said Andrade.
Dan Ware, a social study teacher, used to consider doodling a distraction from learning, but after teaching kids with all personality types he learned scribbling away during lectures helps certain students remember more information. "In my first few years of teaching, I thought, ‘Well, this kid isn't paying attention. He's daydreaming. ' But I had some really powerful experiences with students and came to understand in many cases that was their way of focusing, and those students were probably paying more attention than other students. " Ware said.
