'Hand writing' strengthens the learning process

Associate professor Anne Mangen at the University of Stavanger’s Reading Centre asks if something is lost in switching from book to computer screen, and from pen to keyboard.

The process of reading and writing involves a number of senses, she explains. When writing by hand, our brain receives feedback from our motor actions, together with the sensation of touching a pencil and paper.

These kinds of feedback is significantly different from those we receive when touching and typing on a keyboard.

Together with neuro-physiologist Jean-Luc Velay at the University of Marseille, Anne Mangen has written an article published in the Advances in Haptics periodical.

An experiment carried out by Velay’s research team in Marseille establishes that different parts of the brain are activated when we read letters we have learned by handwriting, from those activated when we recognise letters we have learned through typing on a keyboard.

When writing by hand, the movements involved leave a motor memory in the sensorimotor part of the brain, which helps us recognise letters.

This implies a connection between reading and writing, and suggests that the sensorimotor system plays a role in the process of visual recognition during reading, Mangen explains.

Other experiments suggest that the brain’s Brocas area is more activated when we read a verb which is linked to a physical activity, compared with reading an abstract verb or a verb not associated with any action.