To Type or to Write, That Is the Question

"In terms of immediate results, laptop users typed and recorded more words during the lecture, and their notes were almost word-for-word transcripts of the lecture. The initial assumption was that this would ultimately be beneficial for these students compared with those who were handwriting their notes. After the lectures, the two groups of students in this study were tested on the information presented."

"The results showed that students who wrote by hand during lectures scored significantly higher on the tests than those who typed (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014). The immediate question was: "Why was this the case?" Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) found that students who handwrote their notes were consistently engaged in higher-level thinking. This meant that throughout their lectures, these students were actively listening and intellectually analyzing what to record."

"Luo et al. (2018) found that handwritten notes contained more meaningful content (such as deeper thought and greater intellectual structure), resulting in higher scores on knowledge-based tests. Morehead et al. (2019) confirmed that the benefits of handwriting are most evident when students are assessed on higher-order conceptual understanding rather than on memorizing facts. These studies confirm that handwriting is an essential cognitive process and a highly beneficial intellectual activity."

Typing lecture notes yields a greater quantity of words and near-verbatim transcripts, but results in lower test performance than handwriting. Handwriting forces active selection, synthesis, and higher-level thinking during lectures, producing more meaningful content with deeper thought and clearer intellectual structure. Handwritten notes lead to higher scores on knowledge-based tests and stronger performance on higher-order conceptual assessments rather than mere fact memorization. Handwriting functions as an essential cognitive process that advances knowledge and enhances ideas, with benefits evident from early schooling through advanced levels of education.

Read at Psychology Today