Taking a class? Writing your notes may help you learn better than typing them

When it comes to taking notes, new research indicates that writing by hand may stimulate the brain more than typing.

Handwriting was found to be better for learning and memory in comparison to typing on a keyboard, according to a study published last week in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. Researchers say this is because writing by hand, which forces people to pay close attention to what they're doing, activates more of the brain than the repetitive act of pressing keys.

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The study, performed by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, recorded brain activity in 36 university students. The students were asked to either write words in cursive — using a digital pen on a touch screen — or to type words on a keyboard. Students wore caps with sensors that measured electrical signals in their brains.

Researchers found that when students wrote by hand, their brain connectivity patterns — or communications between various brain regions — were "far more elaborate" than when they typed on keyboards. The brain regions in which the connectivity patterns were more elaborate, including the parietal and central regions, are crucial for memory formation and encoding new information. Therefore, writing by hand can "contribute extensively" to the promotion of learning, according to the study's authors.

"Our main finding was that handwriting activates almost the whole brain as compared to typewriting, which hardly activates the brain as such," Audrey van der Meer, the study’s coauthor, told NBC News. "The brain is not challenged very much when it’s pressing keys on a keyboard as opposed to when it’s forming those letters by hand."

Handwriting is a more stimulating writing strategy, researchers say, because it requires fine motor control over the fingers and for attention to be paid to what one is writing. On the other hand, typing requires mechanical movements that trade awareness for speed. A typer only needs to press a single key to produce a letter or symbol, which limits the motor skills necessary.

Previous research has yielded similar findings. In 2020, van der Meer coauthored a study involving 12-year-olds and young adults that found their brains were more active while handwriting compared to typing. A study published in 2017 found that handwriting could help young children better recognize letters by linking visual and motor skills. 

A group of studies from 2014 found that students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who handwrote their notes. Researchers found that students using their laptops for notes tended to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing and reframing the information, which the handwriters tended to do.

While the latest study's authors say typing notes instead of handwriting them can negatively affect the learning process, they also acknowledge that it's important to keep up with digital advancements in the classroom. For example, typing can be more beneficial than handwriting when it comes to working on long essays.

"We urge that children, from an early age, must be exposed to handwriting activities in school to establish the neuronal connectivity patterns that provide the brain with optimal conditions for learning," the study's authors wrote. "Although it is vital to maintain handwriting practice at school, it is also important to keep up with continuously developing technological advances. Therefore, both teachers and students should be aware of which practice has the best learning effect in what context."