Handwriting boosts brain connectivity

For learning and memory, pens may be mightier than keyboards

BY CLAUDIA LÓPEZ LLOREDA

Writing out the same word again and again in cursive may bring back bad memories for some people, but handwriting can boost connectivity across brain regions that are implicated in learning and memory, a new study shows.

When college students wrote words by hand, connectivity across the brain- particularly in brain waves associated with memory formation – increased compared with when students typed the words, researchers report January 26 in Frontiers in Psychology.

The finding shows that “there is a fundamental difference in brain organization for handwriting as opposed to typing,” says neuroscientist Ramesh Balasubramaniam of the University of California, Merced, who was not involved in the research.

It also adds to growing evidence of handwriting’s benefits. Previous research has shown that handwriting improves spelling accuracy, memory recall and conceptual understanding. Scientists think that the slow process of tracing out letters and words gives individuals more time to process the material and that the intricate movement itself aids learning.

In the new study, psychologists Audrey van der Meer and Ruud Vander Weel, both of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, recruited 36 students from the university and stuck a cap of electrodes on their heads. The researchers asked the students to type or handwrite in cursive with a digital pen a word that appeared on a computer screen.

The cap recorded electrical brain activity while participants carried out each task.

In the data, the researchers looked for coherence: two brain areas active with the same frequency of electrical waves at the same time. Scientists use brain activity to calculate coherence between brain areas, which can indicate how strongly those areas are connected.

Handwriting but not typing showed coherence. Relative to typing, handwriting increased activity in low-frequency alpha and theta waves in brain areas associated with learning, the team found. Handwriting also increased connectivity across central brain regions, many of which are implicated in memory, and across parietal regions, which are involved in sensory and motor processing.

The findings suggest that distinct processes of brain activation happen while a person types or writes. Even with very similar movements, “the activation seems much, much higher in handwriting,” Balasubramaniam says. “There’s more involvement of these brain regions when you’re handwriting”

Van der Meer and van der Weel think this boost may facilitate learning because these particular waves between these specific brain regions are implicated in memory formation. But since the study did not test whether participants remembered the words, it’s unclear how the increased activity impacts learning, says psychologist Kathleen Arnold of Radford University in Virginia. The study “warrants some follow up to see what exactly is causing those connectivity differences and whether or not they reflect learning outcomes.

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Your World Depends On How You’re Wired

 A neuroscientist studies what makes so many people prone to rigid ways of thinking.

By MATT RICHTEL

So sharp are partisan divisions these days that it can seem as if people are experiencing entirely different realities. Maybe they actually are, according to Leor Zmigrod, a neuroscientist and political psychologist at Cambridge University. In a new book, “The Ideological Brain: The Radical Science of Flexible Thinking.” Dr. Zmigrod explores the emerging evidence that brain physiology and biology help explain not just why people are prone to ideology but how they perceive and share information.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

What is ideology?

It’s a narrative about how the world works and how it should work. This potentially could be the social world or the natural world. But it’s not just a story: It has really rigid prescriptions for how we should think, how we should act, how we should interact with other people. An ideology condemns any deviation from its prescribed rules.

You write that rigid thinking can be tempting. Why is that?

Ideologies satisfy the need to try to understand the world, to explain it. And they satisfy our need for connection, for community, for just a sense that we belong to something.

There’s also a resource question. Exploring the world is really cognitively expensive, and just exploiting known patterns and rules can seem to be the most efficient and strategy. Also, many people argue many ideologies will try to tell you adhering to rules is the only good way to live and to live morally.

I actually come at it from a different perspective: Ideologies numb our direct experience of the world. They narrow our capacity to adapt to the world, to understand evidence, to distinguish between credible evidence and not credible evidence. Ideologies are rarely, if ever, good.

In the book, you describe research showing that ideological thinkers can be less reliable narrators. Can you explain?

Remarkably, we can observe this effect in children. In the 1940s, Else Frenkel- Brunswik, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, interviewed hundreds of children and tested their levels of authoritarianism, like prejudice and whether they championed conformity and obedience or play and imagination. When children were told a story about new pupils at a fictional school and asked to recount the story later, there were significant differences in what the most prejudiced children remembered, as opposed to the most liberal children.

Liberal children tended to recall more accurately the ratio of desirable and undesirable traits in the characters of the story; their memories possessed greater fidelity to the story as it was originally told. In contrast, children who scored highly on prejudice strayed from the story; they highlighted or invented undesirable traits for the characters from ethnic minority backgrounds.

So, the memories of the most ideologically minded children incorporated fictions that confirmed their pre-existing biases. At the same time, there was also a tendency to occasionally parrot single phrases and details, rigidly mimicking the storyteller.

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Molecule Offers New Hope on Alzheimer’s | Lens Neurofeedback Training

Memory loss in Alzheimer’s patients could be reversed following the discovery of a molecule that can rejuvenate the brain.

People with Alzheimer’s have low stores of the molecule, microRNA-132, especially in the brain’s hippocampus region, which is causing memory loss, a typical symptom of the disease.

Researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience say that healthy people’s brains go through constant renewal, or neurogenesis, which allows us to maintain cognitive and memory abilities into old age.

But it’s a process that isn’t happening in Alzheimer’s patients, the researchers say, because they have low levels of the molecule, which appears to be the trigger for neurogenesis. In studies on neural stem cells, the researchers found that adding the molecule restored neurogenesis, and which suggests memory would also be improved.

Targeting the use of the molecule as a new therapy is a next stage, the researchers say.

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How Neurofeedback Can Improve Sleep and Reduce Insomnia

Struggling with restless nights and persistent insomnia? Neurofeedback, a cutting-edge brain training technique, offers a non-invasive solution to improve sleep quality and restore natural sleep patterns.

Understanding Neurofeedback

Neurofeedback is a form of biofeedback that monitors brainwave activity and helps train the brain to achieve optimal states. By using real-time feedback, individuals can learn to regulate their brain function, enhancing relaxation and reducing stress—key contributors to sleep disorders.

How Neurofeedback Improves Sleep

1. Regulating Brainwave Activity – Neurofeedback helps balance brainwaves associated with relaxation and deep sleep, promoting a more restful night.

2. Reducing Stress and Anxiety – Chronic stress and anxiety often contribute to insomnia. Neurofeedback trains the brain to stay calm, making it easier to fall and stay asleep.

3. Enhancing Sleep Quality – Many individuals experience fragmented sleep. Neurofeedback helps improving sleep rhythms, ensuring deeper, more estorative rest.

4. Addressing Underlying Issues – Whether due to trauma, mental health conditions, or lifestyle factors, neurofeedback targets the root causes of insomnia, providing long-term relief.

A Natural Approach to Better Sleep

Unlike medication, neurofeedback offers a drug-free alternative with no side effects. With regular sessions, individuals can experience improved sleep patterns, waking up refreshed and energized.

If insomnia is affecting your daily life, consider neurofeedback as a safe and effective solution. Contact MindCareCenter to learn how neurofeedback can help you achieve better sleep and overall well-being.

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Long Term Benefits | Low Energy Neurofeedback System Near Me

LENS Neurofeedback is a clinically effective, drug-free alternative for helping people find lasting relief from neurological symptoms, clarity and balance in their lives.

How LENS Neurofeedback can help

Alleviate many neurological conditions associated with dysregulated brainwave patterns including:

– Anxiety, Depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Attacks, TBI
– Children with ADD / ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Learning Disorders
– Relieve Chronic Pain and Fibromyalgia, Migraines, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, regain energy
– Sleep Disorders, Addictions, by reducing the need to self-medicate

Changes and improvements following a course of treatment with the LENS, once attained, tend to persist and endure. Gains can be seen in as little as 5-10 sessions:

A study at Stone Mountain Center demonstrated a 50% improvement in 20 sessions and less over a range of symptoms. ( 100 Person Study, Journal of Neurotherapy, Winter,2006: issue devoted to the LENS. Conclusion: LENS therapy appears to be very efficient and effective in rapidly reducing a wide range of symptoms. It particularly produces rapid movements in the first 5-10 sessions.)

In tracking gains during a course of LENS treatment, family members, friends, teachers and parents of younger children may notice and give positive ‘feedback’ on beneficial changes in function, behavior and relationships.

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From Timid to Warrior: Boosting Self-Esteem | Biofeedback Neurofeedback

Low self-esteem can be described as lacking self-confidence, and self-worth, in one’s abilities. So, how to transcend it, not let it hold us back?

My definition of a warrior is someone who acts in spite of fear. Fear is normal – even healthy when an action for survival is required. Too often, though, we live our lives in self-limiting ways, our potential undermined by various factors, causing us to see situations through the half-empty, rather than the half-full glass – dwelling on the negative, disregarding our achievements; thinking others are better than us; poor self-image; that we don’t deserve to enjoy; self-criticism; fear of making mistakes, avoid taking risks, fear of failure, or success, feelings of incompetence.

Many factors can cause or lead to low self-esteem: parental abuse, that is emotional, sexual, physical, neglect, parental or authority figure disapproval, (‘you’ll never amount to anything!’); bullying’ academic difficulties; social shaming, poor performance, poor body self-image; perception of not belonging; war; chronic stress.

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Neurofeedback/ Biofeedback | Biofeedback Therapy

There’s a gentle, but effective way to brain fitness and lasting relief from neurological conditions in adults and children, such as Anxiety, Depression, ADHD in kids, without the need for medications: with LENS Neurofeedback.

Neurofeedback – or EEG Biofeedback – uses sensitive technology to track and release ‘stuck’ or disregulated brainwave patterns, thereby helping to restore harmony and balance to the central nervous system. The LENS ( Low Energy Neurofeedback System) carries a tiny signal from and back to the brain in a way that is conducive to the brain self-adjusting – a kind of reset bringing peace, clarity and resilience.

The LENS is user-friendly, quick, given with the eyes closed, and requiring no effort – important for fidgety children, and those having difficulty attending to prolonged auditory / visual stimuli. It has even been used effectively on dogs, horses and other pets.

The recognition of neuroplasticity in neuroscience – the brain’s ability to change and improve function at any age, in adults as well as children – has given hope to many. Parents concerned with prolonged drug use in children diagnosed with ADD / ADHD, now seek alternative approaches like neurofeedback.

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