Can't concentrate? Take a pen

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

If you can't catch the tail of the idea, try grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. The very process of handwriting makes the brain work better, and scientific research supports this.

Many have already forgotten the last time they used a pen and paper, and this is quite understandable - you cannot argue with the productivity of a computer. However, do not throw out the pen and notebook from the desktop, because the process of writing by hand itself helps to clarify thoughts, remember information better and achieve goals faster. And this is not only our own observations, but also a scientifically proven fact.

Are you familiar with moments when ideas seem to be spinning somewhere nearby, but you can't catch them and arrange them in the right order? You’ve already written and erased a phrase ten times, and you don’t even know where to start.

At such moments, a notebook and a pen invariably save me - after the first sentences or phrases, the stupor passes and ideas appear that can be transferred to a computer.

We can assume that this is just a habit and muscle memory - after all, since childhood, we are all accustomed to writing by hand, even if now your typing speed is simply transcendental, and your handwriting resembles indistinct scribbles.

But scientific research shows that writing by hand does help you focus better, and this is due to the way the brain works.

Concentration on the subject

Handwriting stimulates the reticular formation - a group of neurons and connecting nerve fibers associated with all the senses and areas of the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus and spinal cord.

The reticular activating system serves as a kind of filter for the processes that occur in the brain, distributing them according to the degree of importance, and when you write by hand, this activity becomes a priority.

In her book, Write It And Let It Happen, Henrietta Anna Klauser, Ph. D., mentions this mechanism. Handwriting engages the reticular activating system, which sends signals to the cerebral cortex: “Wake up! Attention! Don't miss the details! When you write your goal, your brain will work on it to achieve what you want, and will send you signals to complete it.

Cognitive development

If you use pen and paper to document your ideas, you develop your cognitive functions. Dr. Virginia Berniger, who studies reading and writing and how they relate to learning, found that when children use a pen instead of a keyboard to write text, they complete tasks faster and better, write longer texts and complete sentences.

The same goes for adults. In one study, scientists found that when learning new characters, for example, Chinese characters, adults memorize them much better if, instead of typing the characters, they write them by hand.

Berniger noted the difference in how the brain works when you write something by hand or type on the keyboard: in the first process you write and connect letters yourself, and in the second you just press the same keys on which the letters are written. That is, in the process of writing letters, your brain works more actively than when you press buttons.

As a result, you are more focused on the subject of writing, you can organize your thoughts and come up with something new.

Of course, completely switching to manual writing is somehow not relevant, but it can be useful to write down your ideas and plans in a notebook. In addition, if you prefer to save all information electronically, you can combine the handwriting with a computer, for example, using an electronic pen.