- Markings to Help a Person Think # 27 Jan 2011
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Doodling may be better described as ‘markings to help a person think.’ Most people believe that doodling requires the intellectual mind to shutdown, but this is one misrepresentation that needs correcting. There is no such thing as a mindless doodle. The act of doodling is the mind’s attempt to engage before succumbing to mindlessness. Doodling serves a myriad of functions that result in thinking, albeit in disguise. This universal act is known to:
- increase our ability to focus (especially when handling dull or complex subject matter),
- increase information retention and recall,
- activate the “mind’s eye,” or the portions of the visual cortex that allow us to see mental imagery and manipulate concepts,
- enhance access to the creative, problem-solving, and subconscious parts of the brain, while allowing the conscious mind to keep working, and
- unify three major learning modalities: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.