The benefits of writing by hand
A 2017 study in the journal Frontiers in Psychology found that regions of the brain associated with learning were more active when subjects completed a task by hand instead of on a keyboard. Not only that, but the study's authors also found that writing by hand could promote 「deep encoding」 in a way that typing does not.
2017年發表在《心理學前沿》雜誌上的一項研究發現,當受試者通過手寫而非鍵盤完成一項任務時,與學習相關的大腦區域更為活躍。不僅如此,該研究的作者還發現,手寫可以促進「深度編碼」,而打字則不能。In fact, there have been many such studies to arrive at that conclusion. One notable example from 2014 compared students who took notes by hand with those who took notes on laptops.
事實上,已經有很多研究證明了這一結論。值得注意的是2014年的一項研究,該研究對手寫做筆記的學生和用筆記本電腦做筆記的學生進行了比較。Researchers found that the students using laptops tended to write down what the professor said word for word, while those who took notes by hand were more likely to listen to what was being said, analyzing it for important content and 「processing information and reframing it in their own words.」 When asked conceptual questions about the lecture, students who had taken notes by hand were better able to answer than those who had typed their notes.
研究人員發現,打字做筆記的學生傾向於逐字逐句地記下教授所說的話,而手寫做筆記的學生則更傾向於先聽講,然後分析其中的重要內容,並 "用自己的語言對信息進行加工和重構"。當被問及有關課程的概念性問題時,手寫做筆記的學生比打字做筆記的學生回答得更好。Daniel Oppenheimer, one of the study's co-authors, told Medium's Elemental that in order to analyze the lecture, 「people had to think deeply about the material and actually understand the arguments. This helped them learn the material better.」
該研究合著者之一的丹尼爾·奧本海默在接受 Medium's Elemental 採訪時表示,「人們想要剖析課堂內容,就必須深入思考,並真正理解其中的論點,這有助於他們更好地學習知識。」According to Oppenheimer, the most annoying thing about writing by hand is also what makes it so effective for learning. 「The primary advantage of longhand notes was that it slowed people down,」 he says.
按照奧本海默的說法,手寫最令人討厭之處也正是它在學習中如此有效的原因。他說:「手寫做筆記的主要優勢在於,它能夠讓人慢下來。」When you write by hand, you write more thoughtfully. Such mindful writing rests the brain, unlocking potential creativity, says neuroscientist Claudia Aguirre. 「Recent neuroscientific research has uncovered a distinct neural pathway that is only activated when we physically draw out our letters,」 she writes. 「And this pathway, etched deep with practice, is linked to our overall success in learning and memory.」
當你手寫時,你會寫得更仔細。神經科學家克勞迪婭·阿吉雷說,這樣用心寫作可以讓大腦得到休息,並釋放潛在的創造力。她寫道:「最近的神經科學研究發現了一條獨特的神經通路,只有當我們身體力行地寫出字符時,這條通路才會被激活。這條隨著實踐而被深度激活的通路與我們在學習和記憶方面的全面成功息息相關。」Virginia Berninger, a professor emerita of education at the University of Washington, says the same: 「When we write a letter of the alphabet, we form it component stroke, by component stroke, and that process of production involves pathways in the brain that go near or through parts that manage emotion.」 Pressing a key doesn't stimulate those pathways the same way.
華盛頓大學教育學榮譽教授維吉尼亞·貝爾寧格也說過同樣的話:「當我們寫下字母表中的一個字母時,我們會一筆一划地將它寫出來,這個書寫過程涉及到大腦中靠近或穿過控制情緒的部分的通路。」打字則不會以同樣的方式刺激這些通路。She says, 「It's possible that there's not the same connection to the emotional part of the brain when people type, as opposed to writing in longhand.」 In the same vein, writing longhand also allows people to really figure out what they mean to say, Oppenheimer says, which may help self-expression.
她說:「相比手寫,打字與大腦的情感部分可能不具有相同的聯繫。」奧本海默說道,同樣,手寫也能讓人們真正明白自己想說什麼,這或許有助於自我表達。In some cases, putting pen to paper can even help build connections: 「A doctor who takes notes on a patient's symptoms by longhand may build more rapport with patients than doctors who are typing into a computer.」
在某些情況下,用筆在紙上書寫甚至可以幫助建立聯繫:「相比用電腦打字的醫生,用手寫方式記錄病人症狀的醫生或許能夠與病人建立更融洽的關係。」Our keyboards are great for a lot of things. But sometimes, there's no replacing the feeling of spreading out a clean sheet of paper, uncapping a beloved pen, and letting the ink flow.
鍵盤有很多優點。但有時,攤開一張乾淨的紙,拿起心愛的筆,讓墨水在筆尖划過的那種感覺是無可替代的。(全文共483個詞,標紅單詞為考研重難點詞彙)
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