Use red or blue ink and choose from 4 paper types to make differentiation easy. Move around notes to help you organize your thoughts to commit them to memory. Stick to no more than three colors, be consistent, take thoughtful notes and ace your next exam. Use Pencil Note to write or draw out ideas and always have them on hand Features: - Create and keep track of notes using this handy digital bulletin board. Color-coded notes are more memorable when taken strategically. So using one color pen to take notes with won’t do much, but using multiple colors will. And sure, you can write all of your notes in red or blue ink, but one Quora user noted that habitually using an ink color eventually mutes any significant effect on your recall memory. It’s obvious that plain black notes won’t stimulate your attention levels to the fullest. As of now, there are not many studies on the correlation between ink color and recall memory, but we can make some conclusions. What’s the best ink color to take notes in?īased on my research, there is no one ink color that enhances memory retention. Writing notes in blue ink won’t have a huge impact on your retention however, blue notes will still be memorable because blue is known to be a trustworthy color that resonates within people. The same study from UBC found that the color blue enhances cognitive performance when it comes to creative tasks such as brainstorming, but falls short compared to red in detailed oriented tasks. Likewise, writing notes in red ink is expected to increase attention level, therefore increasing the chances of information being stored for longer. When taking notes, it may be best to write general information in black ink and opt for other colors when recording important details.Ī 2009 color study from the University of British Columbia (UBC) revealed that the color red “ boosted performance on detail-oriented tasks such as memory retrieval and proofreading by as much as 31 percent compared to blue.” According to Juliet Zhu, co-author of the study, red is a color often associated with danger and mistakes, prompting people to be more cautious and attentive of the task at hand. ![]() Black text is default to us, so notes written in black ink don’t stimulate much thought or attention. Julie: Yeah, I think generally color coding my notes has helped me perform better than my peers. Most of what we read is in black text, from social media posts to chemistry textbooks to this article. Here’s a look into the influence of color on memory performance, and whether blue ink actually helps with retention. I don’t really know if that’s true, but I write in blue ink anyway. Summary: Writing by hand increases brain activity in recall tasks over taking notes on a tablet or smartphone. It’s been a game changer for me, and I’m encouraging my siblings to pick one up before they start college. That, and being able to access everything in my laptop as if it were in a notebook is impeccable. Perhaps pen and paper will become more prevalent in college classrooms again, as laptops may be given the boot when it comes to enhancing cognitive processes. Writing my notes via the iPad plus a pencil is the exact same as writing with pen and paper for me. Optimising the use of notetakingĪs an external cognitive aid for increasing learning.All of my notes are in blue ink because writing in blue ink is supposed to help with remembering information. The old fashioned note taking method of pen and paper boosts memory and the ability to understand concepts and facts. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 30(2), What limits the encoding effect of note-taking? A L2 Students : The Need to Investigate the Utility of the Axioms of Good Academic Listening and Lecture Notetaking for Ll / Taking it down: Notetaking practices of L1 and L2 Skill? American journal of pharmaceutical education, 70(2), 38.Ĭlerehan, R., 1995. Handouts in the classroom: is note taking a lost I'm sure there are other more recent ones.īrazeau, G.a., 2006. Here are some references I used previously. The first stage of that review could be transcribing the handwritten notes into an electronic format. ![]() Thus, taking notes by hand forces the brain to engage in some heavy mental lifting. ![]() This then should be followed up by regular review of the material. Instead, they listen, digest, and summarize so that they can succinctly capture the essence of the information. It's a few years since I wrote a paper around this subject but I believe the principles still apply that the act of handwriting notes improves the short term retention and understanding of the material.
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