Extended Mind : Use Doodling for Memory retention

A lot of research show that we thing better and remember better when we move in a space so go for a wallk but it is not always posible at work place so today we will talk about another tool and stragegy for extended mind.

Draw ! you could do scatches or doodles it is cool is doodle is related to a topic of information it is a best case scenarion but research show that motoric activity of you hands really boost a memory even if you draw some abracadabra ornament.

We often assume that doodling is “bad,” indicating that folks aren’t listening to the material being taught. However, for visual learners, doodling can be that extra nudge that helps them in memorizing the material. Doodling as a memory strategy is not only effective, it helps some students focus, calm themselves, and turn verbal-linguistic information into non-linguistic information. In order to make that transfer from text to visual, students must understand the content. Given that one can’t doodle about what’s learned unless one understands it, doodling as a memory strategy can also be an effective formative assessment.

Try this: draw in your notebook – but only if your doodles are related to the material being presented. After a period of time, do a “notebook check” – ask your what different drawings mean or what was being taught when you created the doodle.

Even if they make up your answer on the spot, it STILL is effective in supporting recall of the information that was taught.

By taking what can be seen as a negative and turning it around into a positive, by encouraging doodling as a memory strategy, you gain the trust of your students, especially those that learn differently. By working with the student’s strengths, you enhance learning and memory on multiple levels. Create a win-win situation!

This video tutorial for Sketchnotes explains the concept well.

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Benefits of doodling#

Although it’s probably a waste of time trying to interpret a doodle, could the act of doodling itself still be a beneficial habit for attention and memory in certain circumstances?

To test this out Professor Jackie Andrade at the University of Plymouth had forty participants listen to a mock answerphone message which was purportedly about an upcoming party (Andrade, 2009).

People were asked to listen to the message and write down the names of all the people who could come to the party, while ignoring the people who couldn’t come.

Crucially, these participants were pretty bored.

They’d just finished another boring study, were sitting in a boring room and the person’s voice in the message was monotone.

The question is: even though the task is pretty simple, would they be able to concentrate long enough to note down the right names?

Here’s the experimental manipulation.

Half the participants were told to fill in the little squares and circles on a piece of paper while writing down the names — this is the simplest form of doodling.

The rest just listened to the message, only writing down the names.

Memory boosted by 30%#

Looking at the results, the beneficial effects of doodling are right there. Non-doodlers wrote down an average of seven of the eight target names. But people doodling wrote down an average of almost all eight names. It wasn’t just their attention that was enhanced, though, doodling also benefited memory. Afterwards, participants were given a surprise memory test, after being specifically told they didn’t have to remember anything. Once again people doodling performed better, in fact almost 30 percent better. So perhaps if you’re stuck in a boring meeting or someone is droning on at you about something incredibly uninteresting, doodling can help you maintain enough focus to pull out the salient facts.