It seems these two studies are looking at different things.

The first study notes that there is a physicality that is required to internalize letters shapes based on a different study. What that first study seems to show is how inefficient writing is - it requires massive mental work on the part of university students, who (hopefully) are not struggling to tell an 'a' from a 'b'.

In the second study, I suspect that the students who were typing were focused on their perceived task - transcribing the lecture, rather than learning it. But I agree that simply writing the words is a different activity.

On the other hand, writing lyrics is a different activity than listening to a lecture. I'm not sure how much it relates to handwriting. I find it much more efficient to move words and rewrite using a keyboard than handwritten notes, which quickly become a mess.

But whatever works for folk.

-- David Cuny

My virtual singer development blog
Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?

BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.