Students Who Still Take Notes by Hand Better Off, Say Neuroscientists

Scientists may have found a way to improve the way you study. Hint: you may want to take a step away from the computer.

Typing notes on a computer is now more popular than handwriting in schools and universities. There are several benefits to keyboard typing including being faster and more efficient.

However, Norwegian researchers have now found that handwriting is actually better for brain connectivity, meaning it could actually improve memory while studying. Their findings are published in Frontiers in Psychology.

Audrey van der Meer, a brain researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and co-author of the study told Newsweek that they were surprised to find that "differences in brain activity during handwriting and typewriting were so clear and prominent."

"We know that writing by hand is excellent brain stimulation for people of all ages. The careful forming of the required letters by hand is a fine sensorimotor skill that activates most of the brain," van der Meer told Newsweek. "When we write by hand, important neural networks are formed that promote learning and remembering. Many people believe that we have a brain to think or feel and are surprised to learn that the brain evolved mainly to control movement. Such widespread brain connectivity is known to be crucial for memory formation and for encoding new information and, therefore, is beneficial for learning."

The findings were reached when researchers analyzed EEG data from 36 university students. These students were asked to write or type a word. EEGs measured the electrical activity using sensors that were placed on the head. This allowed researchers to measure brain connectivity when the students were either handwriting or typing.

They discovered that brain connectivity increased when the students were handwriting. Brain connectivity did not seem to increase when they typed.

Van der Meer said that this suggests, that precisely controlled hand movements when using a pen "contribute extensively to the brain's connectivity patterns that promote learning."

For this reason, students may want to consider handwriting notes rather than typing them, as according to these findings, it will probably serve them in good stead when exam time comes around the corner.

"The more we remove fine and gross motor skills from our daily lives, the less we use our brain for what it is good at. The brain is like a muscle, and without appropriate and regular challenges, neural networks will not be established or may even disappear, and the brain will effectively shrivel," van der Meer said. "Therefore, based on our findings we recommend that all young children receive a minimum of handwriting tuition in primary schools around the globe. Not only because it is so good for the developing brain, but also because handwriting is part of our cultural heritage. I think we all agree that it would be good if the next generation can write a handwritten love letter, or just a grocery list."

During the experiment, the students used a digital pen to form the letters. However, this did not affect the findings. The researchers believe it is the physical forming of letters that improves attention and recall in the brain, rather than the computer screen.

This, compared to simply pressing a key on a keyboard quickly, forces the brain to engage more in the task at hand.

Van Meer pointed to the fact that many children, who have learned to read and right on a table, often have difficulty telling certain letters apart, such as d and b, which are the same shape only reversed.

Following these findings, the researchers are urging the need to give students more of an opportunity to write with hands rather than on a keyboard.

They suggest even putting guidelines in place, whereby students must have a minimum amount of handwriting while learning.

"We plan to test the effect of handwritten vs typewritten notes on learning more directly in the classroom. We would also like to test the elderly to see if keeping up handwriting practice at an older age will keep the brain in shape and fend off cognitive decline," van der Meer said.

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