Writing with a keyboard carries many benefits. It's more convenient, for example, and also allows young children to express themselves in written form earlier. However, these advantages may come at the cost of what handwriting has to offer. Research, for example, has shown that handwriting is superior to typing for spelling accuracy, note-taking, and memory recall.
In the current study, researchers compared brain connectivity data when typing with a keyboard and handwriting. To do so, they recruited 36 university students who were asked to either write words in cursive with a digital pen or to type words using a single finger on a keyboard while being recorded by EEG.
Ultimately, the researchers found that writing by hand produced more elaborate brain connectivity patterns than using a keyboard. Co-author of the study, Prof Audrey van der Meer, a brain researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said in a press release:
"Our findings suggest that visual and movement information obtained through precisely controlled hand movements when using a pen contribute extensively to the brain's connectivity patterns that promote learning."
"We have shown that the differences in brain activity are related to the careful forming of the letters when writing by hand while making more use of the senses. [...] 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," she added.
The researchers urge children to be exposed to handwriting activities from an early age to establish neuronal activity patterns important for learning. They noted, however, that it is also important to keep up to date with developing technologies and that both teachers and students should be aware of which practices benefit learning most in different contexts.
Sources: EurekAlert, Frontiers