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This article, my personal experience, what I've heard from my friends, and the other evidence I've heard of all seem to support the same thing: that writing thi

by fouric 5y ago

This article, my personal experience, what I've heard from my friends, and the other evidence I've heard of all seem to support the same thing: that writing things by hand leads to better retention than typing. This seems to be the input-level dual of the meme that reading from physical paper leads to greater retention than from a computer screen. I'm curious as to what the cause could be for this one, as it seems less intuitive than the writing case. Back to writing: I've found that while writing things down, I'm often "bandwidth-limited" - not only can I not write nearly as fast as I can think, but I often run into this limit on a practical level, where I continually have a "buffer" of sentences that I want to write and I'm just waiting for my fingers to put them down on paper. Perhaps learning shorthand would allow me both bandwidth and retention?

rpastuszak 5y ago
>This seems to be the input-level dual of the meme that reading from physical paper leads to greater retention than from a computer screen. I'm curious as to what the cause could be for this one, as it seems less intuitive than the writing case. One of the possible reasons would be that we consume text content on paper differently than on the screen. Another reason would be that when you read text on paper you engage with a unique physical object. Engaging multiple senses and adding more cues/anchors helps with creating stronger connections in your brain and improves memory retention. That's also probably why writing things down with a pen helps you remember more and for longer--more parts of your brain are involved in the process of note taking.
bobthechef 5y ago
The physical act of writing engages the brain more than typing on a keyboard does. I claim that the physical motion and having to form shapes, as well as the more tangible spatial procession of your physical movement across the page reinforces the memory through association in a way that just pushing a key does not. Your hand is very intimately involved in making those marks on paper. Pushing buttons causes things to appear on a screen, but there is little tactile engagement and it isn't very differentiated (all pushes of a key are approximately the same). Writing is also more deliberate, whereas you can type while half asleep. The quality of your writing also depends on effort. Typed letters appear the same no matter how you press the key. You are mainly concerned about pushing the correct key, but how to press it is unimportant and there isn't much room for variation anyway.

by fouric 5y ago

rpastuszak 5y ago

>This seems to be the input-level dual of the meme that reading from physical paper leads to greater retention than from a computer screen. I'm curious as to what the cause could be for this one, as it seems less intuitive than the writing case. One of the possible reasons would be that we consume text content on paper differently than on the screen. Another reason would be that when you read text on paper you engage with a unique physical object. Engaging multiple senses and adding more cues/anchors helps with creating stronger connections in your brain and improves memory retention. That's also probably why writing things down with a pen helps you remember more and for longer--more parts of your brain are involved in the process of note taking.

bobthechef 5y ago

The physical act of writing engages the brain more than typing on a keyboard does. I claim that the physical motion and having to form shapes, as well as the more tangible spatial procession of your physical movement across the page reinforces the memory through association in a way that just pushing a key does not. Your hand is very intimately involved in making those marks on paper. Pushing buttons causes things to appear on a screen, but there is little tactile engagement and it isn't very differentiated (all pushes of a key are approximately the same). Writing is also more deliberate, whereas you can type while half asleep. The quality of your writing also depends on effort. Typed letters appear the same no matter how you press the key. You are mainly concerned about pushing the correct key, but how to press it is unimportant and there isn't much room for variation anyway.