Editing Doodle

{{Short description|Simple drawing}}
{{for|poodle crossbreeds, often collectively called "doodles"|Dog crossbreed}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect|Scribble}}

[[File:Luise Kritzelzeichnung.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Doodle by [[Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz]], Queen of Prussia, c. 1795]]

A '''doodle''' is a [[drawing]] made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and [[abstract art|abstract]] lines or shapes, generally without ever lifting the drawing device from the paper, in which case it is usually called a '''scribble'''.

Doodling and scribbling are most often associated with young children and [[toddler]]s, because their lack of [[hand–eye coordination]] and lower mental development often make it very difficult for any young child to keep their [[coloring book|coloring]] attempts within the line art of the subject. Despite this, it is not uncommon to see such behavior with adults, in which case it is generally done jovially, out of boredom.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}
Typical examples of doodling are found in school notebooks, often in the margins, drawn by students [[daydreaming]] or losing interest during class.<ref name="Archey2013"/> Other common examples of doodling are produced during long [[telephone]] conversations if a pen and paper are available.

Popular kinds of doodles include cartoon versions of teachers or companions in a school, famous TV or comic characters, invented fictional beings, landscapes, geometric shapes, patterns, textures, or phallic scenes. Most people who doodle often remake the same shape or type of doodle throughout their lifetime.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Schott|first=G. D.|date=2011-09-24|title=Doodling and the default network of the brain|url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)61496-7/abstract|journal=The Lancet|language=en|volume=378|issue=9797|pages=1133–1134|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61496-7|issn=0140-6736|pmid=21969958|s2cid=4814704|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The word ''doodle'' first appeared in the early 17th century to mean a fool or simpleton.<ref name="Oxford" /> It may derive from the German ''Dudeltopf'' or ''Dudeldop'', meaning simpleton or noodle (literally "nightcap").<ref name="Oxford" /> It is the origin of the early eighteenth-century verb ''to doodle'', meaning "to swindle or to make a fool of". The modern meaning emerged as a term for a politician who was doing nothing in office at the expense of his constituents.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The Doodle Revolution|last=Brown|first=Sunni|publisher=Portfolio/Penguin|year=2014|isbn=978-1-59184-703-8|location=New York|pages=11}}</ref>  That led to the more generalized verb "to doodle", which means to do nothing.<ref name=":1" />

In the final courtroom scene of the 1936 film ''[[Mr. Deeds Goes to Town]]'', the main character explains the concept of "doodling" to a judge unfamiliar with the word, saying that "People draw the most idiotic pictures when they're thinking."<ref name="Etymonline" /><ref name="Dictionary.com" /><ref name="Riskin1997" /> The character, who has travelled from a fictional town in [[Vermont]], describes the word ''doodler'' as being "a name we made up back home" for people who make "foolish designs" on paper when their mind is on something else.<ref name="Riskin1997" />

The meaning "fool, simpleton" is intended in the song title "[[Yankee Doodle]]", originally sung by British colonial troops during the [[American Revolutionary War]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Heavy Words Lightly Thrown|last=Roberts|first=Chris|publisher=Gotham Books|year=2005|isbn=1-592-40130-9|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/heavywordslightl00robe/page/87 87–91]|url=https://archive.org/details/heavywordslightl00robe/page/87}}</ref>

==Effects on memory==
According to a study published in the scientific journal ''Applied Cognitive Psychology'', doodling can aid a person's memory by expending just enough energy to keep one from daydreaming, which demands a lot of the brain's processing power, as well as from not paying attention. Thus, it acts as a mediator between the spectrum of thinking too much or thinking too little and helps focus on the current situation. The study was done by Professor Jackie Andrade, of the School of Psychology at the [[University of Plymouth]], who reported that doodlers in her experiment recalled 7.5 pieces of information (out of 16 total) on average, 29% more than the average of 5.8 recalled by the control group made of non-doodlers.<ref name="Andrade2010" />

Doodling has positive effects on human comprehension as well.  Creating visual depictions of information allows for a deeper understanding of material being learned.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ainsworth|first1=S.|last2=Prain|first2=V.|last3=Tytler|first3=R.|date=2011-08-26|title=Drawing to Learn in Science|journal=Science|language=en|volume=333|issue=6046|pages=1096–1097|doi=10.1126/science.1204153|pmid=21868658|s2cid=30446552|issn=0036-8075|url=http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29252/7/Drawingtolearn.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29252/7/Drawingtolearn.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> When doodling, a person is engaging neurological pathways in ways that allow for effective and efficient sifting and processing of information.<ref name=":1" /> For these reasons, doodling is used as an effective study tool and memory device.

== As a therapeutic device ==
Doodling can be used as a stress relieving technique. This is similar to other motor activities such as [[fidgeting]] or pacing that are also used to alleviate mental stress. According to a review of over 9,000 submitted doodles, nearly 2/3 of respondents recalled doodling when in a "tense or restless state" as a means to reduce those feelings.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Maclay|first1=W. S.|last2=Guttmann|first2=E.|last3=Mayer-Gross|first3=W.|date=April 12, 1938|title=Spontaneous Drawings as an Approach to some Problems of Psychopathology: (Section of Psychiatry)|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine|volume=31|issue=11|pages=1337–1350|issn=0035-9157|pmc=2076785|pmid=19991673|doi=10.1177/003591573803101113}}</ref> Scientists believe that doodling's stress relieving properties arise from the way that the act of doodling engages with the brain's [[default mode network]].<ref name=":0" /> According to [[Graphology|graphologist]] and behavior specialist Ingrid Seger-Woznicki, "we [doodle] because we're problem solving on an unconscious level" and seeking to "create our life without stressing about it".<ref name="Huffpost-Reasons for doodling">{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2015/10/15/what-do-my-doodles-mean_n_8309036.html|title=What Your Doodling Says About You|publisher=huffingtonpost.com |date=16 October 2015|access-date=9 July 2021}}</ref> Doodling is often incorporated into [[art therapy]], allowing its users to slow down, focus and de-stress.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/arts-and-health/201401/doodling-your-way-more-mindful-life|title=Doodling Your Way to a More Mindful Life|website=Psychology Today|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-16}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Pushkin doodle.jpg|thumb|A typical page from Pushkin's manuscript]]
Doodling have been found on multiple archaeological artefacts at different times around the world. Examples include hand and foot prints intentionally left by children 200,000 years ago in Tibet,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Child art in the historical record: A timeline |url=https://www.histchild.org/resources/a-timeline-child-art-in-the-historical-record |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Children's History Society}}</ref> first century drawing of stick figures and gladiators in [[Pompeii]],<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Vacchiano |first=Andrea |date=2024-06-02 |title=Violent doodles made by children 2,000 years ago raise eyebrows |url=https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/violent-doodles-made-children-2000-years-ago-raise-experts-eyebrows |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}}</ref> obscene drawing in the [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] documents from [[Dunhuang]] (9–10th century).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection object "Or.8210/S.1360" • Vajracchedikaprajnaparamitasutra (Diamond Sutra) 金剛般若波羅蜜經 (Jing gang bo… |url=https://idp.bl.uk/collection/92E122B5DAD14483AAED3FE1163DCC08/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=idp.bl.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref> A young student named [[Onfim]] from 13th century [[Novgorod]] left a variety of doodles in his school notes, written on birch bark.<ref name=":2" />

== Notable doodlers ==
[[Alexander Pushkin]]'s notebooks are celebrated for their superabundance of marginal doodles, which include sketches of friends' profiles, hands, and feet. These notebooks are regarded as a work of art in their own right. Full editions of Pushkin's doodles have been undertaken on several occasions.<ref name="Feb-web" /> Some of Pushkin's doodles were animated by [[Andrei Khrzhanovsky]] and [[Yuriy Norshteyn]] in the 1987 film ''My Favorite Time''.<ref name="Sandler2004" /><ref name="Bethea2013" />

Other notable literary doodlers have included: [[Samuel Beckett]];<ref name="Flavorwire" /> the poet and physician [[John Keats]], who doodled in the margins of his medical notes; [[Sylvia Plath]];<ref name="Flavorwire" /> and the Nobel laureate (in literature, 1913) poet [[Rabindranath Tagore]], who made numerous doodles in his manuscript.<ref name="Banerjee2011" />

Mathematician [[Stanislaw Ulam]] developed the [[Ulam spiral]] for visualization of [[prime numbers]] while doodling during a boring presentation at a mathematics conference.{{sfn|Gardner|1964|p=122}}

Many American Presidents, including [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[Ronald Reagan]], and [[Bill Clinton]], have been known to doodle during meetings.<ref name="Atlantic" />

A portfolio featuring American Presidents' doodles while in office, including those of [[Herbert Hoover]], [[John F. Kennedy]], [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], [[Richard Nixon]], [[Ronald Reagan]], can be found in ''Presidential Doodles: Two Centuries of Scribbles, Scratches, Squiggles & Scrawls from the Oval Office'', introductions by Paul Collins and David Greenberg (New York: [[Cabinet Magazine|Cabinet Books]] and [[Basic Books]], 2006, {{isbn|0-465-03266-4}})
Some doodles and drawings can be found in notebooks of [[Leonardo da Vinci]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-18/what-leonardo-da-vinci-and-steve-jobs-have-in-common|title=What Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs Have in Common|last=Weber|first=Joel|date=October 18, 2017|website=Bloomberg|access-date=16 October 2019}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Asemic writing]]
* [[Automatic writing]]
* [[Drolleries]]
* [[Fidgeting]]
* [[Graffiti]]
* [[Graphology]]
* [[Marginalia]]
* [[Memory and retention in learning]]
* [[Mr Doodle]]
* [[Recall (memory)]]
* [[Sketch (drawing)]]
* [[Stick figure]]
* [[Stream of consciousness writing]]
* [[Ulam spiral]]

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="Oxford">{{cite news|title=Doodle (noun)|work= Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref>
<ref name="Archey2013">{{cite book|last1=Archey|first1=Karen|title=Hymns for Mr. Suzuki|date=2013|publisher=Abrons Art Center|quote=Further meditating on the stereotype of female irrationality are [Cindy] Hinant's untitled heart drawings, recalling grade school doodles made by obsessive girls killing class time by channeling her newest beau.}}</ref>
<ref name="Etymonline">{{cite web|title=Doodle (verb)|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=doodle|website=Etymonline|access-date=11 March 2017}}</ref>
<ref name="Dictionary.com">{{cite web|title=Doodle|url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/doodling|website=Dictionary.com|access-date=11 March 2017}}</ref>
<ref name="Riskin1997">{{cite book|last=Riskin|first=Robert|title=Six Screenplays|url=https://archive.org/details/sixscreenplaysby00robe|url-access=registration|access-date=11 March 2017|year=1997|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-20525-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/sixscreenplaysby00robe/page/456 456]}}</ref>
<ref name="Andrade2010">{{cite journal |title=What does doodling do? |last=Andrade |first=Jackie |journal=[[Applied Cognitive Psychology]] |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=100–106 |date=January 2010 |doi=10.1002/acp.1561|hdl=10026.1/4701 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name="Feb-web">{{cite web|url=http://feb-web.ru/febit/pushkin/texts/push19/vol18/s18-001.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908113751/http://feb-web.ru/febit/pushkin/texts/push19/vol18/s18-001.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2014-09-08|title=Pushkin Drawings|website=feb-web.ru|language=ru}}</ref>
<ref name="Sandler2004">{{cite book|last=Sandler|first=Stephanie |title=Commemorating Pushkin: Russia's Myth of a National Poet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cz1QP5PdRzcC|access-date=11 March 2017|year=2004|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-3448-6|page=156}}</ref>
<ref name="Banerjee2011">{{cite book |first=Nilanjan |last=Banerjee |title=Wings of Mistakes: Doodles of Rabindranath Tagore |location=Kolkata |publisher=Punascha in association with Visva-Bharati |year=2011}}</ref>
<ref name="Bethea2013">{{cite book|last=Bethea|first=David M.|title=The Pushkin Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UPphAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA636|access-date=11 March 2017|date=19 December 2013|publisher=University of Wisconsin Pres|isbn=978-0-299-19563-2|pages=412–414}}</ref>
<ref name="Flavorwire">{{cite web|last1=Temple|first1=Emily|title=Idle Doodles by Famous Authors|url=http://flavorwire.com/147177/idle-doodles-by-famous-authors|website=Flavorwire|access-date=11 March 2017|date=January 30, 2011}}</ref>
<ref name="Atlantic">{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/09/all-the-presidents-8217-doodles/5115/ |title=All the Presidents' Doodles |work=The Atlantic |access-date=2012-05-02}}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
{{Wiktionary|doodle|scribble}}
{{Commons category|Doodles}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.ted.com/talks/sunni_brown.html | author=Brown, Sunni|title= Doodlers, unite! |work=ted.com |access-date=September 23, 2011}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.enchantedmind.com/html/creativity/techniques/art_of_doodling.html |title=Doodling As A Creative Process |website=Enchantedmind.com |access-date=June 10, 2011}}
* {{cite journal | last = Gardner | first = M. | author-link = Martin Gardner |date=March 1964 | journal = [[Scientific American]] | pages = 120–128 | title = Mathematical Games: The Remarkable Lore of the Prime Number | volume = 210 | doi = 10.1038/scientificamerican0364-120 }}
* {{cite news|author=Gombrich, E. H. |title=Pleasures of Boredom: Four Centuries of Doodles|work= The Uses of Images|pages= 212–225|publisher= Phaidon|location= London |date=1999}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/the-lost-art-of-doodling-20091006-gkah.html |title=The lost art of doodling |last=Hanusiak |first=Xenia |date=October 6, 2009 |website=[[Smh.com.au]] |access-date=June 10, 2011}}
* {{cite news|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/arts-and-health/201401/doodling-your-way-more-mindful-life |title=Doodling Your Way to a More Mindful Life | last=Malchiodi |first=Cathy | date=January 13, 2014 | work=Psychology Today|access-date=March 15, 2015}}
* {{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101727048 |title=Bored? Try Doodling To Keep The Brain On Task |last=Spiegel |first=Alix |date=March 12, 2009 |website=[[NPR.org]] |access-date=June 10, 2011}}

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[[Category:Drawing]]
[[Category:Graphology]]
[[Category:Daydreaming]]