Fact · Typing and writing speed
In three studies, students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand”
The pen is mightier than the keyboard: advantages of longhand over laptop note taking, Pam A. Mueller and Daniel M. Oppenheimer, Psychological Science, 2014, Abstract.
Open the original (DOI 10.1177/0956797614524581)- What it measures
- Mueller and Oppenheimer compared students who took notes on laptops with students who took notes longhand, then tested them on factual and conceptual questions. The paper was published in Psychological Science in 2014.
- What it does not show
- A 2019 replication did not find a difference on conceptual questions, so the result is contested. The authors also say that taking more notes can help, and the problem lies in how laptop users write them.