I don't even ever read back what I wrote. But I find I need to write down something to actually remember it.
So it does fit with my experience.
Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper
41–50 of 152 posts
Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper
#42what the heck is "digital handwriting"?
Presumably using something like an active stylus on a tablet?
https://www.trustedreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2... [1]:
Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every time this topic comes up, I am curious to see a cross-generational study. I'd also be interested in seeing the result of taking notes with a less linear note taking tool, such as OneNote and its infinite canvas, compared to pure linear note taking. Now for most math classes, and other subjects that involve lots of diagrams, hand writing (digital or analog) is better! (Ignoring the people who are so good at LaTe…
There was also the transitionary period where teachers and profs would print slides onto transparencies and project those onto a screen. The overhead projectors sometimes had a roll of plastic that they could write on with a felt marker either over the slides or as a blank canvas. A bit of googling reveals that many primary schools still use these, and not all have transitioned to “smart boards”. It was a good trade…
It's been over 15 years since I was scribbling on PowerPoint slides while my Tablet PC was hooked to the projector. I'll ask my spouse if her MS Surface supports such functionality, because I found it pretty darned handy at the time.
I have little need for such a feature anymore, so I don't know if an iPad Pro w/stylus can do that with Keynote (not without looking it up).
Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper
#44One aspect the article doesn't mention is spatiality, and how that aids memorizing. As you might know one very common technique used by memorizing masters is to place things you want to remember in some imagined 3D world. This effect is also something I've experienced strongly myself when listening to audiobooks while running. I figured I can actually remember the exact place along my running route in a nearby forest…
I have aphantasia (i.e. no visual imagination). It hadn't occurred to me that people could use theirs to help them memorize things...
Yeah, I am familiar with this technique, and have tried using it in the past (as my "spatial" memory is very good, despite a total lack of visual imagination), but I've never been successful.
Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper
#45Agree. I just passed a certificate by writing down all my study material for the past three weeks. It's a lot, but the act of writing things down really helps cement info into my brain.
Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have aphantasia (i.e. no visual imagination). It hadn't occurred to me that people could use theirs to help them memorize things...
I think I have aphantasia to some degree and have experienced what the OP is mentioning. Also handwriting is a good aid for me to remember things, particularly if it is written by hand. I don't need to review the notes but the act of putting it down sticks a bit better. I will also have to add that my memory is better at concepts and abstract things but not so good at details.
The handwriting thing makes sense, since I don't think aphantasia necessarily affects motor memory. Drawing/writing by hand could actually be more important for people with aphantasia in that case, since it could provide a motor memory that directly corresponds to something visual.
Also I think at the core of the "visualizing things in different parts of space" memory trick is just making good associations. If you're much better at verbal/internal monologue type of thinking you could still do something pretty similar, by mapping the things to memorize into a story.
Granted certain things are easier to map to a visual space than to language, but that's true in the other direction too. Anecdotally it takes a lot of effort for me to visualize things and I barely do it naturally, but I seem to have a much stronger internal monologue and a better memory for things people say than most of my friends. I wouldn't be surprised if poor visualizing abilities during development could strengthen verbal reasoning a bit like how blind people have other senses heightened.
I really hope research into aphantasia will become more commonplace, but a lot of it is speculation for now unfortunately.
Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper
#47I have a really hard time writing down notes while things are going on. I have very good memory but if I'm taking notes while something is happening, I often don't remember anything other than writing it down. If I don't take notes, my memory of events, topics and discussions is often far better. Writing things down post facto also does not help me much, other than I know where I wrote it.
However I find the act of discussing a topic helps cement things. For me, the engagement with a subject is what really helps me remember things, and I suspect writing notes removes that.
Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper
#48One aspect the article doesn't mention is spatiality, and how that aids memorizing. As you might know one very common technique used by memorizing masters is to place things you want to remember in some imagined 3D world. This effect is also something I've experienced strongly myself when listening to audiobooks while running. I figured I can actually remember the exact place along my running route in a nearby forest…
Spatiality, that's it. It really seems to make a tremendous difference for me to know where something is written down, and sometimes even remembering doing it. I always felt that doing it on a computer was indeed too abstract, losing that spatiality. I also agree with the audiobook thing. For example, I recently thought back to a passage in an audiobook I enjoyed... and my mind instantly visualized how I was standing…
Though I think it's an even more general mechanism of association. And places might also be easy to remember because they also contain many elements we can associate. You can call it the connectedness of a memory. You can also try to repeatedly explain to others something you want to remember or whatever.
Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every time this topic comes up, I am curious to see a cross-generational study. I'd also be interested in seeing the result of taking notes with a less linear note taking tool, such as OneNote and its infinite canvas, compared to pure linear note taking. Now for most math classes, and other subjects that involve lots of diagrams, hand writing (digital or analog) is better! (Ignoring the people who are so good at LaTe…
There was also the transitionary period where teachers and profs would print slides onto transparencies and project those onto a screen. The overhead projectors sometimes had a roll of plastic that they could write on with a felt marker either over the slides or as a blank canvas. A bit of googling reveals that many primary schools still use these, and not all have transitioned to “smart boards”. It was a good trade…
In the 2010s my organic chemistry professor would use one of those projectors and a sheet of blank printer paper, and would just write out chemical formulas all class. We basically all took notes together along with the professor each lecture, which was great because that meant he could never speed up too much since he had to spend time writing everything down, too. Then everything would go up online afterwards if you needed to refer to the professors notes from that day.
Re: Why I’m a sucker for pen and paper
#50Key quote:
> This cognitive effort of condensing and translating into your own words is what facilitates learning. Which is why you could still do this with typing, but it's easy to avoid the cognitive effort of translating and condensing (and we tend toward cognitive laziness) and just type it verbatim because you can keep up.
When I type notes (all the way back to college), it is in one ear, out the other (onto the page). The act of physically writing it down, and potentially a second pass to clean up the notes, is almost all I ever need to get something into working memory. Back in college, the third time I would look at my notes would be the morning of the test where I would just glance through them. Seeing the general shape of the text was often enough to trigger the recall.