Why should you give up the keyboard and write by hand
Productivity / / December 23, 2019
And did you know that the recording of information by hand is a more efficient way to memorize information than typing on the keyboard?
What do you normally use to plan your day - pen and notebook, or a program on a smartphone? Despite the huge number of different schedulers, electronic pads and other programs, recording of the hand can bring you more good than typing on the keyboard. Today we'll show you how and why.
Advantages of handwriting
This is a great workout for the brain. Handwriting helps children learn to write and memorize the letters, formulate ideas and improve communication skills. This is indicated by the results of research scientists and Anne Mangen Jean-Luc Velay from the University of Stavanger in Norway, which It confirmed that a greater number of areas of the brain works in handwriting as compared with the printing process on keyboard.
Handwriting is useful not only for children but also for adults. One of Mangen experiments included two groups of people, who were instructed to learn a new alphabet consisting of 20 letters. The first group used a letter from the hand, and the second - the keyboard. After testing the two groups after 6 weeks, it was found that the first group showed better results memorize new characters than the second. Hence, it was concluded that the entry of the hand is more effective for improving memory than typing on the keyboard.
What happens at the moment when we write by hand
When we begin to write with a pen, it activates a complex brain process. At this point, it begins to work part of the brain called PCA (regulatory activation system), which acts as a filter, helping us focus on the current task.
We need to know how to hold a pen; think of what letters to use and how they form; imagine how they connect with each other in words. In general, the process of recording of the hand includes a motor and visual function. At a higher level we use the brain to convert knowledge in a meaningful way, not to mention the process of storing information. Pressing the two different keys on the keyboard and the perception of information through the screen does not give such a result as activate an entirely different process.
Notes from the hand of help to learn
A letter from the hand - an effective tool for learning (I think everyone remembers the lecture notes). When we listen to a lecture, then remember only 10% of the information. Writing also significantly increase this figure as our brain filters and structures the information during this process. Today, an increasing number of students are used to doing abstracts of their computers (an average of 21% of the total), but the author the book "How to study in college» Walter Pauk urges after school to rewrite the text typed on the computer in your notebook. More information about the benefits of recording during their studies can be learn from the infographic.
How to improve memory using handwriting
Having dealt with how the writing is on the hands helps us to remember information, each of us can make a plan for yourself daily memory training with a pen and notebook. For example:
- Do several approaches. Repeating the process will quickly memorize information.
- Write often. You will be able to remember 70% more, if you record over and over again for one day, while the constant re-reading materials will improve your results by only 20%.
- To engage in the most productive time. For example, the lark is better to do it in the morning, when they are still full of energy.
- Memory cards, as they are very efficient at remembering facts, or other alternate formats of the application of information on paper.
Personally, I'm using a permanent recording teach new words and phrases of foreign languages (the only way I get remember them for a long time), and often use this technique while working with the new information that you need to know.
Tell me, what is most often do you personally use - handle with a notebook or digital gadget? And by what methods memorize the information you need?