Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
NEW YORK, 29th Jan. A recent study published on Sunday suggested that if you want to boost brain connectivity? Then write by hand instead of typing on a keyboard.
The study said that using a keyboard is recommended because it’s often faster than writing by hand. But writing by hand has been found to improve spelling accuracy and memory recall.
The researchers in Norway investigated the underlying neural networks involved in both modes of writing to find out if the process of forming letters by hand resulted in greater brain connectivity,
Prof Audrey van der Meer, a brain researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology said that when writing by hand, brain connectivity patterns are far more elaborate than when typewriting on a keyboard.”
“Such widespread brain connectivity is known to be crucial for memory formation and for encoding new information and, therefore, is beneficial for learning,” van der Meer said.
The study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, the team collected EEG data from 36 university students who were prompted to either write or type a word that appeared on a screen.
When writing, they used a digital pen to write in cursive directly on a touch screen. When typing they used a single finger to press keys on a keyboard, the study stated.
High-density EEGs, which measure electrical activity in the brain using 256 small sensors sewn in a net and placed over the head, were recorded for five seconds for every prompt.
The study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology stated that connectivity of different brain regions increased when participants wrote by hand, but not when they typed, showed the results.
It added that since it is the movement of the fingers carried out when forming letters that promotes brain connectivity, writing in print is also expected to have similar benefits for learning as cursive writing.
The simple movement of hitting a key with the same finger is less stimulating for the brain on the contrary.
Prof. van der Meer said that “This also explains why children who have learned to write and read on a tablet, can have difficulty differentiating between letters that are mirror images of each other, such as ‘b’ and ‘d.’ They literally haven’t felt with their bodies what it feels like to produce those letters.”
