Drawing behaviour influences ongoing thought patterns and subsequent memory

For millennia, humans have created drawings as a means of externalizing visual representations, and later, to aid communication and learning. Despite its cultural value, we understand little about the cognitive states elicited by drawing, and their downstream benefits. In two preregistered experiments, we explored these states; Undergraduate participants (Ns = 69, 60) encoded words by drawing or writing, periodically describing their thoughts using multi-dimensional experience sampling, a tool for characterizing the features of ongoing thought. Subsequent memory was tested via free recall. Contrasted with writing, drawing improved memory, and evoked thoughts that were more visual and elaborative. Recall was also dictated by the emergence of these thought patterns, with the former most important when drawing. Our findings establish that drawing elicits unique thought patterns that promote successful memory, providing an explanation for drawing's influential role in our everyday lives.