Debating whether handwritten notes beat typed ones for memory

I keep seeing people at my office in Chicago type everything on laptops during meetings, but I swear I remember stuff better when I jot it down by hand. My coworker Sarah tested this out with 15 team members last month, and 12 of them scored higher on recall with handwritten notes. Isn't the whole point of notes to actually remember what was said, not just have a digital record gathering dust?

2 comments

2 Comments

laura_allen24d ago

Holy cow, 12 out of 15 is crazy! That's a huge majority, not just a small edge. I'm legit shocked more people don't talk about this. There's just something about the physical act of writing that locks it in my brain, like my hand is helping me think. Typing feels too fast and automatic, like I'm just a transcription robot. That test with Sarah's team really proves it's not just in my head. I love seeing solid proof for something I've always felt was true!

cameronn6224d ago

Yeah that Sarah test was eye opening for me too. I actually tried it with my study group last semester and 8 out of 10 of us scored way higher on handwritten notes vs typed ones for recall a week later. The thing is when I type my brain kinda goes on autopilot and I'm just copying words without actually processing them. But when I write by hand I'm forced to slow down and summarize stuff in my own words which makes me understand it better. Its like my hand is dragging my brain along to actually think about what Im putting down. Ive pretty much switched to notebooks for anything I really need to remember, even meeting notes at work.

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