Does touch typing make you smarter?

We found no evidence that it does. We searched for controlled studies that test whether touch-typing training changes intelligence, working memory or other brain measures, and we found none. Some typing course websites make brain claims, and the ones we saw cite no trial we could check. What the research does show is narrower: faster typing goes with better cognitive scores, and writers with weaker typing skill put more effort into the typing itself.

No study we found shows that touch typing raises intelligence

The claim that touch typing boosts the brain is common on course websites, and it is plausible. Once a skill is automatic, it may free mental room for other tasks. But we could not find a randomized trial that measures intelligence or working memory before and after touch-typing training, so the claim is untested.

Our guide to typing research covers what keystroke studies can and cannot show.

A large 2026 study links faster typing to better cognitive scores

The closest large study tested 10,613 adults and found that faster typing, usually counted in words per minute, was generally associated with better cognitive functioning across domains ¹. That is a correlation. It tells us that the two tend to appear together, not that one causes the other.

The link is also weaker than it first looks. After the researchers adjusted for demographics, the correlations were smaller, though still in the expected direction ². Age, education and other background factors may explain part of the pattern, and the study does not show that learning to type would move anyone's scores.

Skilled typing takes less effort, which frees attention for the text

The better-supported point concerns effort, not intelligence. In a 2008 study, writers with low typing skill had greater cognitive demands during the typing itself than writers with high skill ³. The same study found that low typing skill had a detrimental effect on the quality of the text ⁴.

Our reading is that when typing takes effort, less attention is left for choosing words and ideas. That is an interpretation, not a finding of the study, and it was measured in university students in a single session. It is a plausible reason touch typing can help a heavy writer, because it lowers the cost of getting words onto the screen.

Reading speed may shape typing more than typing shapes reading

A 2023 study of fourth-grade students found that reading speed was the main underlying ability predicting keyboarding performance ⁵. That points the other way from the claim that typing builds mental ability. The study measured both abilities at the same time, so it cannot say which one drives the other.

Typing sentences as you learn them gave lower recall in one study

If you hope typing will improve memory, a 2023 study gives a discouraging result. High school students who typed or handwrote short sentences as they learned them recalled less than students who acted the sentences out or only listened to them ⁶. The sentences were short and the task was narrow, so this is not a verdict on note-taking in general. It does show that, in that study, typing during learning did not beat acting out or listening.

What this means for you

• Touch typing is not a brain exercise that the studies we found can confirm. Expect the benefit to be practical: less effort per word and more attention on the text.
• Typing speed does not show intelligence directly. Our question on whether typing speed correlates with intelligence covers the same 2026 study in more depth.
• If you write for hours, the reasons to learn touch typing are the ones in our question on whether it is worth learning. Its best-supported gain is keeping your eyes on the text ⁷.

Our guide to touch typing explains the method, and the overview of typing speed covers the rest of the subject.