Handwriting Makes Learning Easier
Writing by hand makes learning easier. This is once again proven by a study by Norwegian scientists, the results of which were published in Frontiers in Psychology at the beginning of 2024. They have shown that brain connections are significantly more complex when writing by hand than when typing on a keyboard. "Such extensive brain connectivity is crucial for memory formation and the processing of new information and supports learning," says Dr. Audrey van der Meer, Professor of Neuropsychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, and co-author of the study.
In the study, 36 students wrote down words several times, either by hand with a digital pen or with one finger at a time using a keyboard. They wore hoods with sensors that measured the electrical activity of the brain for five seconds using high-density electroencephalography (EEG).
Prof. van der Meer and colleagues call for children to learn handwriting at school and to write by hand in order to ensure the neural activity and connections in their brains that create optimal conditions for learning. Handwriting is essential alongside the continuous integration of technological progress. Teachers and students should be clear about when which method promotes the best possible learning: When it is effective to write by hand, for example, or when it makes sense to type an essay, for example.
Older studies also point in this direction. For example, a study conducted in 2023 by US scientists Pam Mueller from Princeton University and Daniel Oppenheimer from UCLA also shows that it is worth writing down complex contexts by hand. Study participants who copied out texts by hand were slower, but performed significantly better in the subsequent comprehension questions on the content of the texts compared to the participants who typed the texts.
A 2012 study by US psychologist Dr. Karin H. James of the Indiana University Department for Psychological and Brain Sciences found the same thing: she had children who had not yet learned to read and write reproduce letters in one of three ways: tracing the image on paper using a dotted line, drawing it freehand on a white sheet or typing it on a computer. The children who traced the templates freehand showed measurable brain activity in three areas that are also active in adults when they read and write: the left spindle cortex, the lower frontal cortex and the posterior parietal cortex. No comparable effect was seen in children who only connected dots or typed the letters.
Conclusion: Unlike typing on a keyboard or screen, writing with a pen requires extremely differentiated hand movements. The brain performs many times more control. A so-called motor memory trace is created, which can be called up to recognize letters. Neuronal fireworks are ignited and connections are created that are fundamental for thinking. Writing by hand makes learning easier.
