How Writing Affects the Brain: Interesting Facts
While students write, they have to write a lot. Academic writing helps to train their brains and thus get smarter. Not all people believe in this statement, but science can easily prove them wrong. There are many tests and experiments that prove many positive changes for human cognition when we write.
Lauren Bradshaw is an academic writing expert and a famous blogger from CustomWritings. She has one interesting opinion we would like to share with you. “Writing is one of the evolutionary steps that helped to develop all humans. It’s no wonder that when we take a pen in our hand, we develop our brain with every new line”. Many scholars found that writing positively affects our brains and makes us clever. Our informative article focuses on several interesting facts about how writing affects the human brain. Read about them because they are very vital.
Influence on Our Cognition
Before we begin to review various effects on our brain, we want to mention that we will discuss handwriting. Scholars have proved that when we use our hands to write, not to type, we truly develop our brains. Handwriting boosts our cognitive functions, we are answerable for various regulations in our body and mind. These include:
- Increase in memory capacity;
- Improved thinking;
- Quick problem-solving;
- Correct and logical speech;
- The ability to focus and so on.
As you can see, these functions are of enormous importance for every person. Therefore, the development of your writing skills is very beneficial.
How Does It Work?
Now, it’s necessary to understand the way handwriting interacts with our brains. We have two lobes, which are tightly related to writing.
- The frontal lobe is related to speaking and writing. It likewise regulates reasoning, the solution of problems, movement, planning, and so on.
- The parietal lobe helps our brain to understand and interpret words and languages. If this area is damaged, people are not able to spell words correctly.
Scientists are fascinated by our brain work while performing different tasks connected with work on the information.
Improved Memory
Handwriting helps us to remember things better and keep them in mind for a long time. When we write, we activate certain cells in the base of our brains. Those cells can be found in the reticular activating system or briefly RAS. This system filters all kinds of information we accept. When it works properly, people can remember a lot of things, as well as boost attention and sort out information.
Influence on Feelings and Emotions
When we write, we can “program” certain feelings and emotions. Before we even start to write, we use certain emotions to describe a certain problem. Depending on the situation, it may be something pleasant, as well as negative.
A study that took place at Princeton University also proved this claim. A lecturer was very expressive with what she told and how she moved. Before the lecture ended, all the listeners had the same level of brain activity with the same emotions and feelings.
Storytelling Has a Double Effect
Another study proved that thanks to storytelling can improve the brain as well. The scholars used a PowerPoint presentation as the main framework. It worked in two specific areas in the brain. Why did it happen?
Any PowerPoint presentation consists of two parts – telling and showing bullet lists with images. The two active areas help to turn words into meaning. If the speaker is emotional, storytelling activates other areas in the human brain, and thus the listeners get various emotions.
Benefits for Concentration
One more benefit from writing is the ability to boost concentration and attention. Some scholars compare this benefit with meditation. Not all people understand how it is possible. You may miss the clue, and so we will explain it.
Just stop for a while and remember what you do when you write or even type. You slow down your berthing, get rid of all unnecessary thoughts, and focus on what you write about at the moment. Meditation works the same way!
Writing helps you to relax and calm down because nothing else bothers you. Some scholars recommend writing about some painful accidents in your life. It has a curing effect and people recover from psychological traumas much faster.
Various Psychological Effects
As we have already mentioned a positive psychological outcome, we want to add more data about this fact. If you write regularly, you may enjoy the next psychological benefits:
- Less stress and anxiety;
- A better sense of gratitude for life;
- More joy in life;
- An improved sense of happiness;
- A boosted ability to handle complex issues;
- A better ability to overcome tough times, etc.
Storytelling as well as any type of writing has a real impact on our brain.
Expanded Knowledge
When you write, you learn something new. It is inevitable because you should cover a great variety of topics in all possible disciplines. Moreover, you may even learn another topic at least partially. Your brain will memorize various kinds of information. It will learn how to analyze, sort out, and use it for various situations.
Some Long-Term Effects
If you practice handwriting, you may also enjoy long-term effects. Thus, you will have great problem-solving and analytical skills for a long time. When you try to write fiction, your mind gets used to becoming older because this genre offers various situations for the future.
Different Reactions in a Single Assignment
If you write one assignment but rework it differently, your brain will react to it differently. Remember that when we write, we should also research, create an outline, edit, insert quotes, and so on. All these actions involve various areas in the brain. For example, outlining activates your visual centers.
A Few More Interesting Facts
We have already mentioned the major effects of writing. However, there are a few more you may like. Some of them may be quite unexpected. Let’s check them here below:
- When a person tries to write with a new pen, he or she will write his/her name. it happens in 97% of all registered cases.
- If you read and write, you will expand your active vocabulary much faster than watching television (even with subtitles).
- Books contain more than 50% of words compared to television.
- Copywriting shows effects, which are similar to meditation.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, writing is very helpful for everyone. If we use our hands to grip the pen and write words, we activate special cells in the brain. It helps to develop cognitive functions, which make us smarter, focused, creative, and so on. Do not give up writing even after you are no longer a student. Thus, you will stimulate the development of the brain all the time long!