Your Lousy Handwriting Might Actually Make You Smarter Researchers at UCLA and Princeton found that writing notes in longhand leads to grasping new ideas better and retaining information longer.

By Jonathan Chew

entrepreneur daily

This story originally appeared on Fortune Magazine

Pexels

If you prefer taking handwritten notes over typing on a laptop, take heart: you're much more likely to learn better than your MacBook-prone counterparts.

New studies by researchers at Princeton University and UCLA have reinforced this by showing that students who took notes by hand in class generally outperformed students who typed their notes via computer, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Those who wrote out their notes in longhand, the Journal reported, seemed to learn better, retained information longer, and more readily grasped new idea. While theJournal doesn't quote the publishing journal for the new studies, a previous study by both institutions in 2014 showed that those who took notes with a computer performed much worse on answering conceptual questions than those who hand-wrote.

"Our new findings suggest that even when laptops are used as intended -- and not for buying things on Amazon during class -- they may still be harming academic performance," psychological scientist Pam Mueller of Princeton University, a lead author of the study, told the Association for Psychological Science in 2014.

Part of the reason for the disparity is that those who took notes by hand could rephrase what they heard into their own words, and appeared to digest and think through the material in a more engaged way. Those who took notes by laptop were much faster -- typed lecture notes come out at a rate of about 33 words a minute, compared to 22 words a minute for handwritten notes -- but the tendency to take verbatim notes meant they were not truly engaging with the content.

"Ironically, the very feature that makes laptop note-taking so appealing -- the ability to take notes more quickly -- was what undermined learning," educational psychologist Dr. Kenneth Kiewra from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln told the Journal.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business News

Barbara Corcoran Sounds Off on NAR Settlement: 'It's a Scary Time for Real Estate Agents'

The "Shark Tank" star took to Instagram to share her thoughts on Friday's ruling.

Marketing

Why Being Your Own Influencer Is the Key to Success For Entrepreneurs

Are you showing up as a face in your business? If not, here is why you are missing a major opportunity for brand impact and loyalty and what you can do about it.

Starting a Business

A Side Hustle Consultant Shares the Most Lucrative Gigs Right Now

Plus, he answers the side hustle questions he gets most often from clients.

Side Hustle

Her 'Crude Prototype' and $50 Craigslist Purchase Launched a Side Hustle That Hit $1 Million in Sales — Now the Business Generates Up to $20 Million a Year

Elle Rowley experienced a "surge of creative inspiration" after she had her first baby in 2009 — and it wasn't long before she landed on a great idea.

Starting a Business

She Never Wanted to Start a Business, But Chronic Insomnia Was Motivation — Here's How She Achieved $20 Million in Sales and 8 Hours of Sleep a Night

Dr. Kathrin Hamm, founder and CEO of sleep-wellness company Bearaby, wanted to find a solution for her sleeplessness — and the products on the market weren't cutting it.