Taking notes on paper will have more brain activity when you remember the information an hour later than when you remember text typed in a device, a study found.
Researchers from Japan asked 48 students to take down the details of a person’s record using either a pen and paper, a tablet or a smartphone.
They found that those who wrote the information in a notebook were able to record all the details faster than those who used an electronic device.
Recalling the details in a later brain scanner, those who took written notes showed increased activity in areas of the brain related to memory, language, and navigation.
According to the team, writing with paper involves specific, complex spatial and tactile information that provides more information to the brain to stimulate memory.
Taking notes on paper leads to more brain activity when you remember the information an hour later than when you remember text typed in a device, find a scan (stock image)
‘Paper is more advanced and useful compared to electronic documents because paper contains more one-of-a-kind information for stronger memory retrieval,’ said study author and neuroscientist Kuniyoshi Sakai of the University of Tokyo.
‘Our message at home is to use paper notebooks for information we need to learn or remember,’ he explained.
In their study, the team employed 48 volunteer students, all aged 18–29, who were divided into three groups according to their memory ability, gender, age, choice for media / digital writing. or analog and other factors.
Each participant was asked to read a fictional conversation between characters discussing their upcoming plans – including 14 different personal meetings, class times and assignment dates.
Volunteers recorded this schedule using either paper and pen, a stylized tablet or a smartphone with a touchscreen interface. They were not asked to recall the events.
After an hour – which involved a break and unrelated action to remove them from thinking on the calendar, the participants were put in an MRI machine and given a scan brain while answering a number of questions about the table.
Researchers from Japan asked 48 students to take down the details of a person’s record using either a pen and paper, a tablet or a smartphone. They found that those who wrote the information in a notebook were able to record all the details faster than those who used an electronic device. Pictured: a young man taking notes using pen and paper (stock photo)
The team found that participants who used a paper diary to write down the fictional record did so faster – in 11 minutes, compared to the 14 it gave to record users and the 16 it took for smartphone users.
Those who use devices regularly in their personal lives were just as slow in entering the data as those who prefer analog devices – said the team who show that the speed difference related to memory and encoding of the data in the brain.
In the question portion of the test, those who used pen and paper were not found to score better than the other volunteers on the simple test questions.
However, the team said, those who used paper were found to exhibit more brain activity on restoring the record in those areas of the brain that are related to language, mac vision imagination, memory and navigation.
Recalling the details in a later brain scanner, those who took written notes (as shown in the picture) showed increased activity in areas of the brain related to memory, language, and navigation. According to the team, writing with paper involves specific, complex spatial and tactile information that provides more information to the brain to stimulate memory (stock image)
The researchers said that the activity of the hippocampus in particular shows that the use of pen and paper may allow people to capture richer spatial details that can be recalled and navigated in the eye. the mind.
‘Digital devices scroll up and down and standard text and image resolutions, as on a web page,’ explained Dr Sakai.
‘But if you remember a physical textbook printed on paper, you can close your eyes and see the picture a third of the way down on the left-hand page, as well as the notes you added on the edge. low. ‘
With this, the team added, it may be possible to improve the memory of digitally recorded notes by inserting specific signals – such as highlight, highlight, , rotating or adding arrows – the false writing habits.
While the current study focused on learning and memory, the researchers said they would encourage the use of paper for other creative hobbies as well.
‘It is reasonable that a person’s creativity is more likely to be more productive if prior knowledge is stored with stronger learning and more accurately recovered from memory,’ said Dr Sakai.
‘For art, music composition, or other creative works, I would emphasize the use of paper instead of digital methods.’
The full results of the study were published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.