Full transcript
0:10Thank you, everybody. It's really nice to be here.
0:13My name is Audrey van der Meer.
0:15I am a brain researcher and professor of psychology -
0:19at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, -
0:23where I've been working for the past 30 years.
0:26And I'm here to tell you why we remember things better -
0:30when we write them down by hand.
0:33I have been collaborating with my husband for the past 40 years, -
0:40and in 2015, we started to interest ourselves -
0:46to study handwriting and what is happening in the brain, -
0:49because we have these characteristic EEG nets -
0:54consisting of 256 electrodes -
0:57that pick up surface activity from the scalp, -
1:01and we use inverse mathematic models -
1:06to trace back where the activity in the brain originated.
1:11Because we're recording from the scalp, -
1:13but we are really interested in where the brain activity originated.
1:18And we've been studying handwriting and brain activity during handwriting -
1:25with typewriting on a keyboard and brain activity during typewriting.
1:31We have published our results, we have come with recommendations.
1:36Basically, it's very good brain stimulation -
1:39to use your hand to draw or write, -
1:43because a lot of areas in the brain, the whole brain is basically involved -
1:48when you write by hand or when you draw.
1:50And that is not the case when you're using a keyboard, -
1:54because the keyboard only elicits very simple finger movements, -
2:00whereas when you write or draw by hand, -
2:04it's actually very intricate movements that are performed.
2:08You use your senses much more, -
2:11and therefore, more of the brain is involved.
2:13So, we have been studying with our electrode nets -
2:19the pen's potential for learning in the classroom.
2:22We have published several studies since 2017 -
2:26showing that it really is advantageous for the brain.
2:30You use your brain to a much larger extent -
2:34when you're forming letters by hand or when you're drawing.
2:38And these publications are open access, -
2:41so anybody can go and find them online.
2:47So what we did in our very first study was to test students, -
2:53a group of university students, Bachelor's and Master's students, -
2:57while they were drawing words, Pictionary words.
3:01So, they were presented with Pictionary words -
3:04such as hedgehog or umbrella, -
3:07but also, more difficult words such as friendship or birthday.
3:13And then, they had to either draw these words, -
3:17or they had to give a description of these words by typing on the keyboard, -
3:22or they had to just type the word repeatedly -
3:26with one finger on a keyboard.
3:28And then, we were interested to see differences in brain activity.
3:33The 2020 study that has become highly cited, -
3:38we included a group of 12-year-old children.
3:42For the first time, we also asked the participants -
3:46to write the words by hand.
3:49Because in the first study, we actually didn't look at handwriting, -
3:54because we assumed that, in drawing and handwriting, -
3:58the same underlying mechanisms were active, -
4:01but we couldn't prove it because we didn't test it.
4:05But in the second study, we actually included a handwriting condition -
4:09and a drawing condition and a typing condition.
4:12We found over and over again -
4:15that when you are drawing or writing by hand, -
4:21so when you're using your hand to produce forms -
4:24on paper or on a touchscreen, -
4:28you use your brain to a much larger extent.
4:31The whole of the brain is active.
4:34When large parts of the brain are active, -
4:38the brain is in need of communicating important information -
4:42between those active parts.
4:45And it does that through neural oscillations or brain waves -
4:49that can occur in synchrony, in red on the graph, -
4:54or in desynchrony, in blue, and at different frequencies.
5:02So, what we find is that handwriting and drawing -
5:06elicit very similar brain patterns, -
5:09namely synchronised activity, in red, in the lower frequency bands.
5:16And typewriting is the odd one out, -
5:19because here we find desynchronised activity at the lower frequency bands, -
5:26and synchronised activity at the higher frequency bands, -
5:29where for handwriting and drawing, -
5:32we find desynchronised activity in the higher frequency bands.
5:37And here we see a head model for all the participants -
5:42where we subtract brain activity during typewriting -
5:48from brain activity during handwriting, -
5:51and then we're left with all these significant areas in red -
5:56at the lower frequency bands that the brain is more active -
6:01during handwriting or drawing versus during typewriting.
6:05So, this is clear and impressive in a way, -
6:10showing that the brain really is much more active during the use of a pen.
6:19And then, more recently, in 2024, -
6:22we looked at functional brain connectivity -
6:26to see how the brain was wired up -
6:28during handwriting and during typewriting again.
6:33And then, you get a connectivity matrix -
6:38showing all the significant couplings in the brain -
6:43between handwriting and typewriting.
6:47And you see in the head model, -
6:49that model is kind of wearing a party hat during the use of a pen, -
6:57and it's completely flat when they're typewriting.
7:01That shows that the brain is, in other words, much more active -
7:08during handwriting or drawing, during the use of a pen, -
7:13and we see that time and time again, -
7:17and that forces the brain to be used in a much more efficient way.
7:24There's need for cross communication between those different brain areas, -
7:29and you use your finger movements, your intricate finger movements -
7:33to produce forms on a surface, whereas when you're typing, -
7:38it's just these simple finger movements that are actually exactly the same -
7:43for every letter that you're trying to produce.
7:46And that's why children who have learned to read and write on a tablet -
7:52have difficulty differentiating between letters that look similar -
7:56but are each other's mirror image, for example, -
7:59simply because they haven't felt with their bodies -
8:04that the production of a B is actually completely different -
8:09than the production of a D on paper.
8:13So, the media has really picked up on this.
8:17People all across the world are very engaged in this topic, -
8:23handwriting versus typewriting and what it means for the brain.
8:28We have been in The Economist.
8:31We've had an issue in National Geographic last year -
8:35and in Scientific American, -
8:38so why handwriting still matters in a digital age, -
8:41and we've also been on Pubity that went viral -
8:44with half a million likes within a week or so.
8:48It's really been crazy.
8:52So, what does this mean for the real world?
8:57We are not denying that we are living in a digital world, -
9:01and we're not proposing to go back to writing in stone, -
9:06but we now know that handwriting is extremely good stimulation -
9:15for especially maybe the developing brain, -
9:17but also maybe for the aging brain.
9:20We have suggested to the Norwegian government -
9:24that they should introduce a minimum of handwriting tuition at primary schools -
9:31because it's so important for their brains.
9:33I'm not saying that it's easy for a six-year-old boy, active boy, -
9:39to sit down and to learn to make those letters on paper, -
9:44but it's very good for their brain, -
9:46and I would say it's essential for their brain stimulation -
9:50to force the brain to be used for what it is good at, -
9:54and to challenge the brain for what it is good at.
9:58And if you want to become good at something, -
10:00if you want to use your brain to its full potential, -
10:03you have to challenge it on a regular basis, -
10:06and you have to sit still and make those letters -
10:10and produce a good handwriting style.
10:15Not only for the brain stimulation, but I also think -
10:18that handwriting is part of our cultural heritage, -
10:23and by not teaching the next generation how to write by hand, -
10:28we're actually losing an important dimension of being human.
10:36Thank you.
10:51You mentioned in your talk that you did the study -
10:54with the participants typing with one finger.
10:58Would it be different if they used all their fingers?
11:02That's a very good question, but we couldn't, -
11:05because if you're using all 10 fingers, then both hemispheres are active, -
11:12and then it would be a confounding variable, basically.
11:15So, since we are writing with one hand and using three fingers max, -
11:21we also asked our participants to type with just one finger -
11:25of their preferred hand as to not find this crossover effect -
11:30when you're steering 10 fingers.
11:32Also, it's difficult to recruit people -
11:35who have equal ability of 10-finger typing.
11:40So, then we would also make it more difficult for ourselves.
11:43So, we just ask them to use the finger of their preferred hand for typing.
11:49But of course, there may be more crosstalk when you're using 10 fingers.
11:58Have you done any study on potentially handwriting -
12:02helping old people with Alzheimer's?
12:05Today, they're forced to use smartphones, -
12:07and they don't really enjoy it, I think.
12:11Yeah, that's also a very nice question.
12:14We have been thinking about including or looking at cognitive ageing -
12:21to see whether regular use of handwriting -
12:24could fend off cognitive decline, so to speak.
12:29And we are planning a study where elderly people -
12:34who are used to keeping a diary on a daily basis or on a regular basis -
12:41and compare them with a group of elderly -
12:43who have gone completely digital -
12:46and are not using their writing skills regularly anymore, -
12:52and to see whether we find any differences in brain activity, -
12:57better brain activity in those who are used to writing.
13:02Yes?
13:07You mentioned that handwriting can also help us remember things better.
13:14Is that because there is a relation between how active the brain is -
13:19and how much we remember things later?
13:22Yes, I should have said, the activity we find -
13:26in all these brain areas on the slide I showed earlier, -
13:30in a synchronised way at those low frequencies, -
13:34that kind of brain activity is related -
13:37to learning and remembering centres in the brain. Yeah.
13:46Thanks for the talk. I was curious, you mentioned that these kids -
13:50who didn't write by hand, they had a hard time differentiating -
13:54between the mirrored shapes of letters like B and D.
13:59Was that in regards of the handwritten shapes of those letters -
14:03or also reading like typed text?
14:05It's both reading and writing, yes. - That is fascinating.
14:09So, we actually have a hard time reading if we don't learn to write by hand.
14:13For instance, in Waldorf schools that rely a lot on self-handwritten pensum, -
14:20they form the letters with their bodies, -
14:24and they play these games to incorporate the letters in daily life.
14:31Because that is the important thing, you need to feel with your body -
14:34and all of your senses how these forms are shaped.
14:42Thank you.