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Doodling and Memory
April 25, 2009 |
Some people do it during meetings, even while on hold, doodle. And new research
finds those scratches aren’t exactly mindless.
“Doodling is one of the many techniques people use to try to enhance their memory,
enhance their ability to problem-solve,” says LMHS geriatrician, Dr. Michael Raab.
Researchers in England put doodling to the test and
found those who doodle tend
to retain more information than those who don’t.
But how you doodle may determine how you tackle everyday issues. “Perhaps you’re
listening to something and it has something to do with things that area best done
in the morning and you may be doodling sun, or a sunrise, or you are just kind of
doodling a half circle with some lines shooting up from it that you might not even
think is a sunrise, but its your mind associating the information of morning tasks
and the sun coming up,” explains Dr. Raab.
So, how do you decipher the doodles? There are two common forms: the first, mind
mapping, where doodling is formed from scratch. “The blank sheet doodling. As you
are doodling, your mind is thinking of other things, you might offshoot other ideas
you popped in, then
when you look back over your doodling, you’ve mapped in a different
more free form way the solution to your problem and then you can organize,” adds Dr. Raab. The second type: copy doodling, or doodling over something already there.
“The analogy is that if you try and do things by an outline, then you defeat yourself.
Because an outline is what they term, “pre-organization,” explains Dr. Raab. So
you organize before you have all the thoughts available, and by doing that, you
exclude where the answer might be.”
Doctors say regardless of how you doodle, it’s good
for the brain. ” Doodling can
be a different way of you either giving your brain a chance to encode information
because it provides a break, or it can be a way of enhancing that encoding, so that
as your doodling, the doodles could have meaning in your subconscious related to
the topic that you are listening to,” says Dr. Raab.
Doodling doesn’t just boost your brain, but can help in the memory process as well
as other brain-related related activities. You can also learn more about improving
your memory in the “Healthy Brain Initiative Program,” call 239 772-6765 for more
information.
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