Note-Taking and Memory: A Laboratory Report for PSY101 Students

This laboratory report investigates the effects of note-taking methods on memory recall within a psychology context, utilizing the levels of processing theory as a framework. The study involved 300 participants, with a gender distribution of 60% females and 40% males, and an age range of 18-70 years. Participants were divided into handwritten and typed note-taking groups and asked to take notes while watching a TED talk, followed by memory recall tests. The hypothesis posited that handwritten note-takers would not demonstrate weaker memory than typed note-takers. Results indicated that the handwritten group exhibited significantly better memory performance than the typed group, supporting the hypothesis. The report discusses the experimental design, materials used, procedure, and statistical results, highlighting the practical implications of the findings, and the limitations of the study. The discussion further explores the levels of processing theory, emphasizing how deep processing during note-taking enhances memory retention. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and suggestions for future research, underscoring the importance of handwritten note-taking for improved memory in educational settings.

Running head: NOTE-TAKING AND MEMORY IN LABORATORY SETTINGS
Note-Taking and Memory in Laboratory Settings
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1NOTE-TAKING AND MEMORY IN LABORATORY SETTINGS
Abstract
Note taking process is beneficial for the students, although is a complex process and it requires
skills to comprehend what the teacher wants to say. 300 participants were selected for the study
with a gender composition of 60 percent females and 40 percent males. The mean age of the
participants is 27.98 years and the standard deviation is of 15.12. The range of the age is of 18 to
70 years. The hypothesis of the study stated that the participants that use the traditional methods
of note taking are in no way weak in memory than the typed group. The t-test was statistically
significant, with the handwritten group demonstrating better memory than the typed group.
Levels of processing theory, describes that deep processes relate to a situation or an object. Deep
and semantic processing of information leads to deep thinking and this causes the memory of
something to be easily assessed.

2NOTE-TAKING AND MEMORY IN LABORATORY SETTINGS
Introduction
Note taking is linked with a positive performance in test and this practice is not lost
because the students acknowledge that lecture note taking is related with the positive educational
experience. It is important to note that the majority of the college professors teach by giving
lectures and at the same time majority of the students have the tendency to take notes in class.
Even if the note taking process is beneficial for the students, note taking is a complex process
and it requires skills to comprehend what the teacher wants to say (Bui, Myerson & Hale, 2013).
Memory can be defined as a faculty of brain that processes information and stores the same
through the process of learning. Note taking has a direct relation with the memory. To study the
process of note taking, level of process theory will be used. This theory rejects the idea of dual
store model of memory. This model postulates that the characteristics of a memory can be
determined by its location. The durable memory can be traced to the long term store while, the
fragile memory can be traced to the short term store (Craik and Lockhart, 1972).
This study will review a literature “Note-Taking with Computers: Exploring Alternative
Strategies for Improved Recall” by Bui, Myerson & Hale, (2013). Correctional analysis of the
three studies have revealed that students that took organized notes, for them the working memory
predicted a note quantity which helped the students to recall the delayed and the immediate tests.
students that tried to transcribe the whole lecture, for them note quantity predicted the recall. The
results of the study indicated that individuals that have the poor memory still can take notes
effectively by on a computer by transcribing. This method provides the students that has
different types of the cognitive capabilities. While it has been argued by Mueller and
Oppenheimer (2014) that students that take notes individually on a computer perform worse in
comparison to the ones that takes notes collaboratively. While it has been suggested by Orndorff

3NOTE-TAKING AND MEMORY IN LABORATORY SETTINGS
(2015), that students that take notes collaboratively had shown improved performance in terms of
learning outcomes and improvement in grades. Collaborative note taking also hep the students
that are poor in taking notes.
This study is to write a laboratory report on psychology and it is based on note taking and
memory in laboratory setting. The aim of the study is to select an article for a laboratory report
and use a theory called levels of processing theory as a theoretical framework for the study. The
hypothesis of the study: the participants that use the traditional methods of note taking are in no
way weak in memory than the typed group.
Method
Participants
300 participants were selected for the study with a gender composition of 60 percent
females and 40 percent males. The mean age of the participants is 27.98 years and the standard
deviation is of 15.12. The range of the age is of 18 to 70 years.
Design
The study here provides an experimental research design because the entire experiment
provides a blueprint and this affects the result of the experiment. The experimental design
consists of the experimental group. The independent variable in the study are the quality of the
memory of the participants, while the dependent variables of the study include the note taking
capacity of the respondents under different scenarios, the skills required for taking notes, and the
note taking skills of an individual with a computer. The participants are assigned to watch a
video on TED talks and the two groups are asked to take notes in hand written format and are
also asked to take the notes through a word processing program. The participants are ten asked to

4NOTE-TAKING AND MEMORY IN LABORATORY SETTINGS
complete two demographic questions. Subsequently, the participants that belong to the typed
group are asked to fill the questionnaire in electronic format and the handwritten group are asked
to fill questions in hardcopy format.
Materials
The participants were asked to view a TED talk show and take typed and hand written
respectively depending on the type of the group from which the groups belong. The participants
were asked to solve as many answers as they can among 500 mathematical questions in 15
minutes. The participants were also asked to answer questions on the subject they have covered
in the TED talk show (Suzuki, 2017) (appendix 1). A demographic questionnaire was used and it
was asked to solve by the participants.
Procedure
The study was advertised on the social media and newspaper so that the general
population can participate. The participants that participated into the study are randomly
allocated into two groups like handwritten and typed. The entire study was conducted in the
laboratory of the USC Sippy Downs campus. Each of the participant regardless of whichever
group they were in are asked to meet with and Assistant Researcher where no other participants
were present. The Assistant Research read out the entire procedure to each of the participant and
the participants were also provided with the tips to aid their memory. The participant was asked
to view a TED talk show and consequently take notes on the by writing and by typing the same
in a word processing program in a computer. The participants are then asked to fill a
demographic questionnaire in typed and electronic for the respective group. In the nest step the
participants were asked to provide as many answers to a 500 mathematical question in 15
minutes (appendix 2). The participants were then asked to answer 20 questions that are based on

5NOTE-TAKING AND MEMORY IN LABORATORY SETTINGS
the TED talk show which was previously shown to the participants (appendix 3). At the end of
the study the participants were given the opportunity to ask any question related to the
experiment.
Results
Data represented the number of correct responses to the memory recall questions. One
mark was given to each correct answer, with a maximum of 20 marks possible for each
participant. As indicated in Table 1, on average, participants in the handwritten group scored
higher than those in the typed group. The spread of scores was similar for both groups, as
indicated by the standard deviation and range of scores. However, the handwritten group had
higher minimum and maximum scores compared to the typed group. An alpha level of .05 was
used for the analysis that tested the hypothesis: the participants that use the traditional methods
of note taking are in no way weak in memory than the typed group. The t-test was statistically
significant, with the handwritten group demonstrating better memory than the typed group, t
(298) = 2.45, p = .019.
Table 1:
Mean scores of the participants in each group
Note-taking M S.D Minimum Maximum
Handwritten 16.09 2.39 11 18
Typed 13.25 2.31 7 15
Note: n= 150 for each of the note taking group

6NOTE-TAKING AND MEMORY IN LABORATORY SETTINGS
Discussion
The hypothesis of the study is that the participants that use the traditional methods of note
taking are in no way weak in memory than the typed group. The t-test score denoted that the
hand written group showed better memory in comparison to the typed group. This shows that the
participants were either not proficient with typing or they do not possess the skills of note taking.
While the participants that belonged from the hand written note group performed much better
way. It is important to note that the traditional handwriting does not require extra skills during
taking notes. Taking notes through traditional methods of handwriting is always fast than
operating on a computer or a word processor program. Jotting down information in a hand
written format is always format always proved to convenient. One has been proficient with a
word processing program to work fast on a computer and take notes subsequently (Kienzle &
Hinckley, 2013).
According to the Levels of processing theory by Craik and Lockhart (1972), the
memories that are deeply processed stays longer in the memories while shallow processing leads
to shorter storage of memories. The deep processes relate to a situation or an object, when
meaning of something is thought off in our mind, and when someone processes the importance
of something. Deep and semantic processing of information leads to deep thinking and this
causes the memory of something to be easily assessed. The video provided a perfect example of
maintenance rehearsal in which the speaker tells the audience to repeat the information; and an
elaborative rehearsal is conducted in which information relating to exercise is analysed deeply.
Limitation of the study is the sample size could have been restricted to a specific age group
instead of making it a random assessment (Marshall et al., 2013).

7NOTE-TAKING AND MEMORY IN LABORATORY SETTINGS
Strength of the study is that the result can be used as an evidence to highlight the
importance of taking notes in hand written format rather than emphasizing on the usage of
technology. Notetaking depends on the capability of note takers on how fast they can write and
take notes (Duran & Frederick, 2013). Thus, it is important to note that when the participants
were asked to give answer to the 20 questions based on the TED talk. The hand written group
performed in a better way than the typed group because they were able to take notes faster and
thus were able to recall properly. The possible research scope in future is to conduct a research
within a specific age group. From the above discussion it can be concluded that the t-test was
statistically significant, with the handwritten group demonstrating better memory than the typed
group. The hypothesis of the study stated that the participants that use the traditional methods of
note taking are in no way weak in memory than the typed group. Deep and semantic processing
of information leads to deep thinking and this causes the memory of something to be easily
assessed.

8NOTE-TAKING AND MEMORY IN LABORATORY SETTINGS
Reference
Bui, D. C., Myerson, J., & Hale, S. (2013). Note-taking with computers: Exploring alternative
strategies for improved recall. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(2), 299. DOI:
10.1037/a0030367.
Craik, F. I., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research.
Journal of verbal learning and verbal behavior, 11(6), 671-684. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(72)80001-X
Duran, K. S., & Frederick, C. M. (2013). Information comprehension: Handwritten vs. typed
notes. Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences, 12(1). Retrieved from
https://www.kon.org/urc/v12/duran.html
Kienzle, W., & Hinckley, K. (2013). Writing handwritten messages on a small touchscreen. In
Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Human-computer interaction with
mobile devices and services (pp. 179-182). ACM. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1145/2493190.2493200
Marshall, B., Cardon, P., Poddar, A., & Fontenot, R. (2013). Does sample size matter in
qualitative research?: A review of qualitative interviews in IS research. Journal of
Computer Information Systems, 54(1), 11-22. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2013.11645667
Orndorff III, H. N. (2015). Collaborative Note-Taking: The Impact of Cloud Computing on
Classroom Performance. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher
Education, 27(3), 340-351. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1093744

9NOTE-TAKING AND MEMORY IN LABORATORY SETTINGS
Suzuki, W. (2017). Wendy Suzuki: The brain-changing benefits of exercise [Video file].
Retrieved from
https://www.ted.com/talks/wendy_suzuki_the_brain_changing_benefits_of_exercise

10NOTE-TAKING AND MEMORY IN LABORATORY SETTINGS
Appendix
Appendix 1
The TED Talk was by Wendy Suzuki and was titled, The Brain-Changing Benefits of Exercise.
(https://www.ted.com/talks/wendy_suzuki_the_brain_changing_benefits_of_exercise)
Appendix 2
Distractor Task: Example of Mathematical Questions.
5 x 7 = __________
4 + 1 + 15 = __________
(8 / 2) + 6 = __________
10 + 6 – 3 = __________
2 + 2 + 2 + 3 = __________
Appendix 3
Memory Task: Example of Questions on the TED Talk.
1. What is the presenter’s qualification? ____________________
2. At the start of the TED Talk, the presenter stated that exercise could protect your brain from
three conditions. Name one of the conditions. ____________________
3. Name one of the key areas of the brain that was discussed. ____________________
4. What was the name of the presenter? ____________________
5. What holiday did the presenter go on by herself? ____________________