We've all been there. You're stuck in a boring meeting or conference call and your mind wanders. Instead of taking notes, you start to doodle flowers or squiggly shapes on a notepad. While most people assume you've stopped paying attention, new research reveals that doodling may actually help you retain information. Get your pens out for this news...

According to a study in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, volunteers who doodled while listening to a dull phone message were able to remember more information than people who didn't doodle. Researchers asked 40 people to listen to a two and a half minute recording of a list of people and places. They were told to only write down the names of people going to a party. Half of the volunteers doodled while listening to the tape; the other half did nothing. When the recording was finished, everyone was asked to recall the names of the party-goers as well as additional place names. Who performed better? Surprise: Doodlers remembered 29 percent more than non-doodlers.

"If someone is doing a boring task, like listening to a dull telephone conversation, they may start to daydream," said study author Jackie Andrade, Ph.D. "Daydreaming distracts them from the task, resulting in poorer performance. A simple task, like doodling, may be sufficient to stop daydreaming without affecting performance on the main task."

Want more brain-boosters? Check out our piece on simple ways to get smarter--by tomorrow!

Do you doodle during meetings? What do you draw? (I'm an abstract doodler.) Do you find doodling distracting?


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