7 Ways Doodling Will Change Your Life [Design School – Feb 27, 2015] – But just because she was doodling doesn’t mean she wasn’t listening, and it certainly doesn’t mean she wasn’t thinking. Though doodling is not exactly a hotbed of neuroscientific and psychological research, a few groups around the world have started looking at how doodling can help improve your cognitive performance on tasks such as memory retention, listening, creativity, and emotional expression. So next time you find yourself doodling away, don’t stop and think you should be doing something useful: you are.