Typing is faster, but handwriting makes your brain sharper

Is handwriting better than typing? Research shows that handwriting activates the brain more than typing. In fact, slower handwritten note-taking may deepen attention, recall and overall understanding.

In Short

• Slower handwritten note-taking may deepen attention, recall and overall understanding
• Researchers said typing still matters, but schools should keep teaching handwriting
• Scans showed handwriting triggered stronger links across multiple brain regions

In classrooms, offices and even homes, keyboards and touchscreens are steadily replacing pens and paper. But research has shown that handwriting changes the way our brains learn in ways that typing does not.

Audrey L. H. Van der Meer, a Norwegian neuroscientist, published a paper in 2024, exploring how handwriting activates the brain in a much more complex and connected way than typing on a keyboard.

These brain activity patterns are linked to memory, learning and processing new information, the study published in Frontiers in Psychology, suggested.

MORE ABOUT THE STUDY

Brain activity of 36 university students were recorded while they either wrote words by hand using a digital pen or typed the same words on a keyboard.

Using a high-density EEG scan, a test that measures electrical activity in the brain, scientists found that handwriting created much stronger and more widespread communication between different brain regions compared to typing.

The most active areas were the parietal and central parts of the brain, which are involved in attention, movement, language processing, memory and visual understanding.

The study found increased activity in what scientists call theta and alpha brain waves during handwriting. These frequencies are closely associated with learning and memory formation.

In simple terms, handwriting appeared to make different parts of the brain “talk” to each other more efficiently.

WHY DOES HANDWRITING AFFECT THE BRAIN DIFFERENTLY?

Handwriting is a far more detailed physical activity than typing.

When a person writes by hand, the brain must coordinate:

• vision,
• finger movements,
• hand control,
• touch sensation,
• and the shaping of each individual letter.

This combination creates what researchers described as rich “sensorimotor” input, meaning the brain receives information from both movement and sensation at the same time.

Typing, on the other hand, mainly involves repetitive tapping motions. Pressing keyboard keys requires less precise movement because every key press is mechanically similar.

The study noted that this lack of intricate movement may explain why typing produced weaker brain connectivity patterns.

IS HANDWRITING ACTUALLY BETTER FOR LEARNING?

According to the research? Yes, especially when it comes to learning and remembering information.

Earlier studies cited in the paper have already shown that handwriting can:

• improve spelling accuracy,
• strengthen memory and recall,
• improve letter recognition,
• and help people better understand what they are learning.

In fact, the slower pace of handwriting may force people to pay closer attention to information, helping the brain process it more deeply.

Typing is often faster, but speed may come at the cost of awareness and retention.

DOES THIS MEAN TYPING IS BAD?

Not necessarily.

The researchers do not argue that keyboards or digital devices are harmful. In fact, they acknowledged that typing is important in today’s digital world and can help young children express ideas more easily and quickly.

Instead, the study suggests that handwriting and typing serve different purposes.

For example: handwriting may be more useful when learning new concepts, taking lecture notes or memorising information, while typing may be better for long essays, speed and digital communication.

The researchers stressed that children should continue learning handwriting in schools even as technology becomes more common.

The study also found that these benefits are not limited to traditional pen-and-paper writing.

Using a digital pen on a touchscreen produced similar brain effects, suggesting that the act of forming letters by hand is what matters most.

- Ends