Want to remember something? Don’t type it out—write it down.
At least that’s what a paper published in Frontiers in Psychology suggests, concluding that “whenever handwriting movements are included as a learning strategy, more of the brain gets stimulated, resulting in the formation of more complex neural network connectivity.” In other words: Writing by hand, as opposed to with a keyboard, helps you remember things.
The study, by F. R. Van der Weel and Audrey L. H. Van der Meer, psychology researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, had 36 students write a variety of words, chosen at random from the game Pictionary, either with a digital stylus or a keyboard, all while wearing a 256-channel sensor array on their heads. The researchers were watching to determine which involved more connectivity between the two sides of the brain, something that’s been shown to correlate with learning and memory. Though a small sample size, the results “revealed increased connectivity for handwriting over typewriting, suggesting that different underlying cognitive processes are involved in the two tasks.”
This makes sense to me—I can type without looking at the keyboard, or even really thinking about the fact that I’m typing. Writing with a pen, though? That I have to pay attention. That’s a meaningful distinction, one that has implications for anyone who is trying to learn. Now, the paper goes out of its way to state that this doesn’t mean you should abandon your keyboard altogether—they’re just different tools for different jobs.
There is, all the same, a demonstrable difference between how writing with a pen, or typing by hand, affects your ability to remember the words you’re recording. Now that you know this you can take advantage—here’s a little bit of advice.
Want to remember something? Use a pen or stylus.
Lately, when I’m reading a book or paper with the intention of…
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