If Deborah Kenner has paper in front of her, she's probably doodling.
While in class, the UF sophomore draws her name, flowers and squiggly designs while listening to lectures.
"I always pay attention," Kenner said.
Now she has evidence. According to a recent study from the University of Plymouth in England, doodling can aid concentration and may prove beneficial in remembering information.
The study, published in late February, consisted of two groups of 20 people - one instructed to doodle, one not - who listened to a mock telephone message. Participants in the doodle group recalled 29 percent more than the participants in the non-doodle group.
Kenner said she was not surprised.
"I've gone through stages when I've tried not to doodle, but it really just helps me pay attention more," she said.
Kenneth Heilman, a clinical professor of neurology and health psychology at UF, feels the same way.
"I'm a big doodler," Heilman said. "If I don't doodle, I fall asleep. Doodling keeps me alert and awake."
Glen Finney, an assistant professor in UF's department of neurology, doodles mazes and paisley-like patterns when listening to lectures. Doodling allows people to back away from strong thoughts and relax, allowing weaker brain connections to be activated, he said.
"That's a way to find new ideas and not get locked into old ideas," he said.
An example is when a student takes a test. Finney said when an answer keeps popping into a student's head, but he know it's wrong, he needs to relax and allow other brain connections to activate in order to think of other possible answers.
"Doodling allows you to sort of be weakly aroused," Finney said, "but it's not so detaining that you're highly aroused."
Although he said some people use doodling to keep themselves active and paying attention, others might use doodling as an outlet for their creative urges.
Kenner said she occasionally doodles out of boredom, but it's on a whole different level.
"Those are more drawings than doodling," she said. "I take out a whole piece of paper and stop paying attention."
