Scribbling helps you think

To fill a paper with scrawls is not a waste of time or a distraction. On the contrary, it aids mental concentration and stimulates  memory. Investigators subjected 40 persons to a series of experiments in which they were listening to a phone call during two minutes and a half and, later, they had to remember names and places mentioned in the same one. The half of the volunteers they were doing in a leaf of paper while they were remaining to the telephone. Another half was left to his free will.

All the volunteers had to write eight names and eight places mentioned in the message. Those who had done scrawls in paper remembered an average of 7,5 whereas those that they did not draw succeeded 5,8. " In the daily life to do scrawls can be a way of supporting the attention in a boring task and avoiding an unnecessary distraction ".