Handwriting Lights Up Your Brain–Here’s How

As early as 1979, studies affirmatively concluded that note-taking was significantly more effective in learning and remembering than simply listening passively—the pen was no doubt mighty. Yet, with a plethora of convenient digital tools at our disposal, does the pen still hold such might?
In a seminal 2014 study, “The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard,” researchers Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer conducted three experiments to compare handwritten versus typed note-taking. When tested afterward, students who took handwritten notes scored 12 to 20 percent higher on conceptual understanding questions—though both groups performed similarly on factual recall.