Nitoriのテーマ
Hello everyone, SCIENSPOT is a podcast that shines the spotlight on the latest scientific technology from Japan.
Your host is REN from SCIEN-TALK. This episode joins the science podcast day September.
This time I'd like to talk about the theme of Nitori or Two-Sword Style. This is an event where
each month a different podcast acts as a host, sets a theme, and various podcasts talk about
that topic. This month's host is Denseka. Denmark is number one. Denseka is a podcast that broadcasts
on both English and Japanese and since my show also has an English version we might be a little
similar. So this month's theme is Nitori. It's somewhat challenging topic but I want to focus on
how we all have our own two-sword style of reading and writing and how that's related to the human
brain. In our digital age, smartphones, tablets, and computers are an integral part of our daily lives.
We use them for everything from taking lecture notes to communicating with friends and reading
news. While these devices offer incredible convenience, have you ever wondered how this
digital transformation is compacting our fundamental learning abilities such as our
reading and writing skills? Surprisingly, until now there hasn't been enough scientific investigation
into how digital devices affect our daily writing and reading habits. Previous research often focused
デジタル時代の習慣調査
on experimental settings, comparing memory and comprehension with handwriting versus keyboard
input, but a broader connection between everyday reading and writing remains unexplored. However,
from a neuroscience perspective, it's logical to expect a strong link our brain's language area
processes and their structure linguistic information which is crucial for both understanding
reading and expressing writing. Think of it like a central processing unit in a factory. It takes
raw materials and produces finished goods and the efficiency of this core unit dictates the quality
of us. Today we are discussing research that sheds light on this very question. A joint project by
organizations like the Applied Neuroscience Consortium, the University of Tokyo's Sakai Lab,
and NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting conducted a large-scale survey on the reading and
writing habits of students in the digital age, scientifically verifying their relationship.
This survey involved 1,062 students across Japan aged 18 to 29. They were asked about their media
use, paper, or digital, for lecture notes and daily schedule management, as well as their habits
regarding reading books, newspapers, and magazines, and writing over various purposes like memos, blogs,
social media, and diaries. The core of analysis was to understand how these habits related to their
書くことと読むことの習慣
Japanese language comprehension test scores. Their findings revealed some connecting trends.
A significant 10% of students reported never recording lecture content and 24% said they never
write down daily schedules using either paper or digital tools. This suggests that for some students
the act of writing isn't a habitual part of their routine. Even among those who do take notes,
over 30% only record the bare minimum, and the electric users were particularly prone to taking
less detailed notes. It's like trying to build a complex structure by only jotting down a few
keywords from the blueprint, potentially missing crucial details. Reading habits showed similar
patterns. 20% of students reported never regarding books, newspapers, or magazines. Even those who
read paper books averaged only about 40 minutes per day, which researchers consider insufficient,
and furthermore only 38% read specialized books or textbooks indicated that the time
dedicated to higher education level study might be limited. Interestingly, 26% of students spend
an average of 60 minutes a day reading articles from community sites like blogs and social media.
But here's where this research gets really interesting. The study found a strong correlation
between reading and writing habits. Students who read books, newspapers, and magazines more regularly
リーディングとライティングの相互作用
and for longer periods tend to write in a wider variety of situations, not just lecture notes
but also daily memos, diaries, and more. Conversely, those who wrote in more diverse
situations also tend to read for longer durations. This suggests a positive feedback loop,
where reading encourages writing, and writing in turn enhances reading. You could think of it like
two gears working together. When one turns, the other is engaged, and together they create
efficient movement. The more impactful finding, however, related to academic performance.
An additional test on Japanese language comprehension revealed a striking difference.
Students who had a habit of recording lecture content scored significantly higher on
comprehension tests compared to those who didn't on average of 32%. Alarmingly, the scores of
non-recorders were close to random chance, suggesting they understand very little of the
material. Similarly, students with daily reading habits also scored significantly higher than
those who rarely read. And the biggest takeaway, the research highlighted a cumulative effect
of both writing and reading. When researchers combined these two factors, the habits of
recording lecture and the habits of reading books, newspapers, and magazines, they found
students who engaged in both activities showed a gradual and significant improvement
読書と執筆の重要性
in their comprehension test scores compared to those who did neither or only one.
This is a powerful synergy. It's like exercising, strengthening your cardiovascular system,
and building muscle together leads to far greater overall fitness than focusing on just one.
This research shows that for comprehension, those two workers are incredibly powerful
in combination. This research provides scientific evidence that in our digital age, our reading and
writing habits are profoundly connected to our comprehension and logical thinking skills.
The discovery of a cumulative effect where seemingly simple habits like taking lecture,
notes, and daily reading significantly boost our learning abilities is incredibly important.
These findings strongly advocate for strengthening language education and
emphasizing the importance of lifelong learning across all educational stages.
The University of Tokyo's Sakai Lab plans to continue this research using
MLI to further clarify the value of handwriting at the brain function level.
That's all for today's SciencePod. This podcast is broadcast on weekday morning in both Japanese
and English. I'd love for you to listen to the podcast and post your thoughts with the hashtag
SciencePod. Thank you for listening and see you next time.
