This is an investigation into the possible links between psychomotor action, in the activities of handwriting, and memory. A comparison of recall and recognition for common words demonstrates that memory is better for words when they have been written down rather than when they are typed. This provides additional support for the hypothesis that the additional context provided by the complex task of writing results in better memory. With the recent trend towards electronic note taking, the educational and practical implications of these findings would suggest that performance may be improved by using traditional paper-and-pen notes.
The mental models that participants had about the common technological device of a computer were examined in 1999 and 2009. The participants were prompted with the question "What is like a computer?" in order to generate analogies that were used to access their mental models. Results indicated that more analogies were generated in 1999 rather than 2009. In addition there was a reduction in the amount of analogies generated by males. The top popular analogies produced in 1999 and 2009 were found to be different. These results suggest that the general knowledge base people have about computers has shifted in the past decade. Further, the individual differences that one has may impact their beliefs and knowledge about computers.
The expression ''lysine 43 (K43)" on page 3415, right column, should read ''lysine 34 (K34)". On pages 3416 and 3517 the expressions ''K43" should read ''K34".
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.