THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE CAMERA: ADVANTAGES OF LONGHAND NOTE-TAKING OVER PHOTO-TAKING

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of photo-taking on test performance, comparing it to the conventional method of longhand note-taking. The number of mind-wandering probes were also manipulated to investigate if mind-wandering mediated the relationship between learning condition and test score. In a 2 x 2 fully between-subjects design, participants either took notes using pen and paper or took photos using their mobile phone cameras during a study period before being tested on the content. Additionally, participants were also exposed to a total of either two or four mind-wandering probes during the learning process. Participants reviewed their notes or photos before being tested. Analysis found that note-takers performed significantly better than photo-takers on the test. However, the number of mind-wandering probes did not affect the final test scores and mind-wandering was not found to have mediated the relationship between learning condition and test scores. The results are the first to show that note-takers outperform photo-takers in an academic setting, even with time given for revision. Moreover, in-depth analyses suggest that external storage is not the main mechanism at play, lending strength to the encoding hypothesis. Finally, limitations and directions for future studies are discussed.