Doodle-dee-doo

I doodle, sometimes as a diversion when bored, other times as a form of subconscious fidgeting. Mine are usually abstract, chemical structures, or religious in nature and quite repetitive. (I’ve sketched many monstrances.) A colleague of mine, however, will draw the most amusing caricatures of our colleagues and the faculty. Sometimes these are shared; others must be guarded and later destroyed. (Yes, it is like being back in junior high sometimes.)
According to a new study in Applied Cognitive Psychology ("What Does Doodling Do?", doi: 10.1002/acp.1561), doodling is actually an aid to concentration. Doodling is better than daydreaming which distracts one from the task at hand and results in poorer performance.
According to the press release:

"In psychology, tests of memory or attention will often use a second task to selectively block a particular mental process. If that process is important for the main cognitive task then performance will be impaired. My research shows that beneficial effects of secondary tasks, such as doodling, on concentration may offset the effects of selective blockade," added Andrade. "This study suggests that in everyday life doodling may be something we do because it helps to keep us on track with a boring task, rather than being an unnecessary distraction that we should try to resist doing."

Now I must convince my advisor that when doodling during meetings, I am not slacking off but rather helping myself remember details of the discussion.