Doodles are a common means of expression in today’s world. From Google’s daily doodles to Instagrammers’ daily posts, it is hard to pass an internet day without seeing a single doodle. Also, we all would have drawn a doodle at least once, while attending a bore lecture or during a uninteresting seminar. More than those cartoons we see there are several other dimensions for a doodle. For some it is a stress buster and for some others it is a means of earnings. In this post, let us read more about doodles.
What is doodle?
A doodle is a drawing made while a person’s attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract lines, generally without ever lifting the drawing device from the paper, in which case it is usually called a scribble.
It is generally associated with toddlers and as a means of increasing hand coordination. Typical examples of doodling are found in school notebooks, often in the margins, drawn by students daydreaming or losing interest during class.
Impacts of doodle
Effects on memory
According to a study published in the scientific journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, doodling can aid a person’s memory by expending just enough energy to keep one from daydreaming, which demands a lot of the brain’s processing power, as well as from not paying attention. Thus, it acts as a mediator between the spectrum of thinking too much or thinking too little and helps focus on the current situation. The study was done by Professor Jackie Andrade, of the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth, who reported that doodlers in her experiment recalled 7.5 pieces of information (out of 16 total) on average, 29% more than the average of 5.8 recalled by the control group made of non-doodlers.
Comprehension skills
Doodling has positive effects on human comprehension as well. Creating visual depictions of information allows for a deeper understanding of material being learned. When doodling, a person is engaging neurological pathways in ways that allow for effective and efficient sifting and processing of information. For these reasons, doodling is used as an effective study tool and memory device.
As a therapeutic device
Doodling can be used as a stress relieving technique. This is similar to other motor activities such as fidgeting or pacing that are also used to alleviate mental stress. According to a review of over 9,000 submitted doodles, nearly 2/3 of respondents recalled doodling when in a “tense or restless state” as a means to reduce those feelings. Scientists believe that doodling’s stress relieving properties arise from the way that the act of doodling engages with the brain’s default mode network.
Types of doodling:
Zentangle
The Zentangle Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. We call these patterns, tangles. You create tangles with combinations of dots, lines, simple curves, S-curves and orbs. These simple shapes are the “Elemental Strokes” in all Zentangle art.
Mandala
Mandala painting is a symbolic picture of the universe, the circle that represents wholeness, totality, infinity, timelessness, and unity. Mandala is famously known as a spiritual and ritual symbol in many Asian cultures.
Zendoodling
Zendoodling is the art of drawing designs using structured patterns or “Zentangle.” When you draw a Zen doodle, you’re creating a work of art, but you’re also deliberately creating a mood, focus, and state of mind.
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