Note-taking for the win: Doodling does not reduce boredom or mind-wandering, nor enhance attention or retention of lecture material.

Doodling and fidgeting-traditionally viewed in educational contexts as markers of inattention and poor classroom behaviour-have more recently been considered as possible routes to improve performance by reducing boredom and its negative impact on memory. However, there is a surprising lack of well-controlled studies examining this possibility, despite the widespread adoption of fidget toys and doodling exercises within classroom settings. Here we report two experiments (total  = 222) that assess the impact of doodling on boredom, attention, mind-wandering, and subsequent recall of auditory information.