I've always wondered how much is gained through the act of re-typing (in a positive sense). For example, does the process itself help embed the concepts?

I've always liked the idea that familiarity doesn't breed repetition, rather repetition breeds familiarity (I think this is a quote but can't find the source now) and it's always made me wonder how much is gained from some of the repetitive parts of re-typing, such as does this help embed concepts?

▲

datameta 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

There was a study somewhere that proved handwritten notes encoded into memory more effectively than typed notes, but both were still vastly superior to just reading.

So I think it depends on how much the person is thinking through what they are typing?

	▲	dhosek 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		In my creative writing practice, I retype a piece at least once in the process of revision¹ which forces me to consider every word along the way. I’ve heard of people doing this with other peoples’ writing, something I’ve never had the patience for, but I can imagine that again, the process of getting words (or code) from the page through the eyes→brain→fingers to the keyboard does require some mental consideration of what you’re doing. ⸻ 1. This has its roots in my high school writing practice where I wrote using a manual typewriter (sitting on the floor of my bedroom in my parents’ basement) and the only way to revise my copy was to retype a clean version of it.

▲

poulpy123 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

> I've always wondered how much is gained through the act of re-typing

The obvious theory is it is better because you are going slower and are more focused.

Less obvious theory: I also think that the activation of the muscles stimulate the brain (that's why we have muscle memory)