Al-Sharman Alham, Shalash Reime Jamal, Omran Taif A M, Elsayed Rofaida Mohamed, Warfa Ilhan Abdi, Adawi Wala Siddig Elsayed Ali, Aljaberi Amna Obaid, Alabdooli Alia Abdulla, Arumugam Ashokan, Ramakrishnan Sivapriya, Saad Nabil, Ahbouch Amal, Bani Issa Wegdan, Hijazi Heba, Kim Meeyoung, Hegazy Fatma, Nashwan Ayat
Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE.
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
BMC Med Educ. 2025 Aug 28;25(1):1218. doi: 10.1186/s12909-025-07593-x.
Taking notes during lectures plays a vital role in enhancing learning outcomes. With technological advancements, digital note-taking has gained popularity among university students in recent years due to its convenience, ease of storage, sharing, and searching. Different versions of digital note-taking have been introduced, including the use of styluses on tablets, which offer a blend of traditional handwriting and digital advantages. However, the use of digital devices may introduce distractions, such as access to social media, potentially disrupting focus and impacting learning effectiveness. Therefore, their impact on learning and cognition remains a topic of ongoing exploration. This study aimed to investigate the differences in cognitive functions between university students practicing either longhand or styluses digital note-taking methods in the United Arab Emirates.
One hundred students participated in this cross-sectional study. Sociodemographic information, including age, sex, nationality, and study year were obtained. Participants reported the note-taking method they use (longhand vs. digital note-taking with styluses). A battery of cognitive tests was used in this study to assess different cognitive functions, including the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R), and the Stroop Color and word test. The Mann-Whitney U tests were used to assess differences in different cognitive domains between participants following longhand and styluses digital note-taking.
Students that used longhand note-taking demonstrated significantly higher overall cognitive scores (MoCA, p = 0.005), along with superior information processing speed, working memory (SDMT, p = 0.045), and better visual memory (BVMT-R, p = 0.01), compared to those who used styluses digital note-taking. However, students using styluses digital note-taking exhibited better inhibitory cognitive control (Stroop test, p = 0.020).
Although using styluses offers a hybrid experience by combining the tactile benefits of handwriting with the digital advantages of electronic devices, students who employed longhand note-taking demonstrated significantly higher cognitive scores across several domains compared to their peers using stylus-based digital methods. However, while these differences were statistically significant, the effect size was small. Longitudinal cohort studies are needed to further examine the predictive, mediating, and confounding factors related to note-taking methods and cognitive abilities in students.
课堂上做笔记对提高学习效果起着至关重要的作用。随着技术的进步，近年来数字笔记因其便利性、易于存储、共享和搜索而在大学生中受到欢迎。已经推出了不同版本的数字笔记，包括在平板电脑上使用手写笔，它融合了传统手写和数字优势。然而，使用数字设备可能会引入干扰因素，如访问社交媒体，这可能会分散注意力并影响学习效果。因此，它们对学习和认知的影响仍然是一个持续探索的话题。本研究旨在调查在阿拉伯联合酋长国使用手写或手写笔数字笔记方法的大学生在认知功能上的差异。
一百名学生参与了这项横断面研究。获取了社会人口统计学信息，包括年龄、性别、国籍和学年。参与者报告了他们使用的笔记方法（手写与使用手写笔的数字笔记）。本研究使用了一系列认知测试来评估不同的认知功能，包括蒙特利尔认知评估（MoCA）、符号数字模态测试（SDMT）、简短视觉空间记忆测试修订版（BVMT-R）和斯特鲁普颜色和文字测试。使用曼-惠特尼U检验来评估采用手写和手写笔数字笔记的参与者在不同认知领域的差异。
与使用手写笔数字笔记的学生相比，使用手写笔记的学生在总体认知得分（MoCA，p = 0.005）上显著更高，同时在信息处理速度、工作记忆（SDMT，p = 0.045）方面更优，视觉记忆也更好（BVMT-R，p = 0.01）。然而，使用手写笔数字笔记的学生表现出更好的抑制性认知控制（斯特鲁普测试，p = 0.020）。
尽管使用手写笔通过将手写的触觉优势与电子设备的数字优势相结合提供了一种混合体验，但与使用基于手写笔的数字方法的同龄人相比，采用手写笔记的学生在几个领域的认知得分显著更高。然而，虽然这些差异具有统计学意义，但效应大小较小。需要进行纵向队列研究，以进一步研究与学生笔记方法和认知能力相关的预测、中介和混杂因素。
