Research results confirm the benefits of handwriting for the brain.
In recent years, teaching cursive writing has gradually disappeared from school curricula, but attention to this skill is now increasing again. Nature reports on this.
In the American state of New Jersey, cursive writing has once again become mandatory for students in grades three to five. Over the past ten years, similar requirements have been introduced in about 20 states in the U.S. Meanwhile, in France, Brazil, and Russia, cursive has never been completely excluded from school education: in Russian elementary schools, children learn to write in cursive letters from their early years.
Research results indicate cognitive benefits of handwriting. In experiments, children who wrote by hand activated brain areas that are involved in reading in adults. Neuroscientists Karin Harman James and Audrey van der Meer note that handwriting forms complex motor patterns and stimulates areas responsible for learning and memory. In contrast, typing on a keyboard involves only simple finger movements.
However, there is no consensus among scientists on which style of writing is preferable. Virginia researcher Barbara A. B. Berninger believes that printed writing is more effective in the early grades, but by fourth grade, cursive provides advantages: children start writing faster and make fewer spelling mistakes. A Canadian study showed that second graders who learned only one type of writing—cursive or print—performed better on tasks than those who gradually mastered both styles. At the same time, many specialists emphasize that there is currently no convincing evidence of the unconditional superiority of any one style.
