National Doodle Day

It is National Doodle Day in the UK. What a wonderful holiday! I wish we had one in Canada. Celebrities auction off their doodles to raise money for people affected by epilepsy and neurofibromatosis. Check out the website here: http://www.nationaldoodleday.org.uk/

A study released today announces that doodling "improves memory and reduces daydreaming," which goes to show that I actually was paying attention in school and Ms. Harman, my french teacher in grade ten can bite me.

"For the study, published today in Applied Cognitive Psychology 40 volunteers were asked to listen to a boring two and a half minute phone message that gave the names of several people and places, reports EurekAlert. Half of the participants were asked to shade in shapes without paying attention to neatness while they were listening, and the other half were not. After the test, they were asked to write down the names and places that were mentioned in the message.
The doodlers recalled on average 7.5 names of people and places, while non-doodlers only recalled 5.8 items. "

It makes sense. If you are doodling, you can still listen. If you are not doodling, your mind might be wandering, and daydreaming, which is more distracting.

Apparently the US has a new Doodle Day coming up on May 7th. Here is Barack Obama's doodle submission:



Pretty good for a President, huh?