Let there be write!

11 July, 2026

Would you like your kids to do better at school? Would you like to remember information better than you do?

The answer may be write around the corner.

Dr Audrey van der Meer is a brain researcher and professor of Neuropsychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology who has been conducting research on brain activity related to learning.

In a study published in 2024, she and her colleague investigated brain activity in 36 university students as they were engaged in activities of handwriting or typing.

In short, the study found that the brain was more active during the process of handwriting than it was when a person was using a keyboard.

‘Our results reveal that whenever handwriting movements are included as a learning strategy, more of the brain gets stimulated, resulting in the formation of more complex neural network connectivity,’ the authors said. ‘It appears that the movements related to typewriting do not activate these connectivity networks the same way that handwriting does.’

The results have clear implications for memory and learning, especially in education.

‘As increased connectivity in the brain was observed only when writing by hand and not when simply pressing keys on the keyboard, our findings can be taken as evidence that handwriting promotes learning, suggesting that different underlying cognitive processes are involved in the two tasks,’ the authors said.

In other words, we remember things better when we write them down by hand.

What does this mean for homes and classrooms where children’s activities are increasingly screen-based? Maybe that’s a question to take up with your child’s school.

Van der Weel FR and Van der Meer ALH (2024) Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: a high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom. Front. Psychol. 14:1219945, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1219945; https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1219945/full?xcod=organichQwK21wXxRhQwK21wXxRhQwK21wXxRhQwK21wXxR&sck=organichQwK21wXxRhQwK21wXxRhQwK21wXxRhQwK21wXxR

Why handwriting is better for your brain, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF-FnEcyRv4

How handwriting benefits your brain, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAQBchbqrIM