Taking notes on laptops rather than in longhand is increasingly common. Many researchers have suggested that laptop note taking is less effective than longhand note taking for learning. Prior studies have primarily focused on students' capacity for multitasking and distraction when using laptops. This cited paper ${?}^1$ summarizes three studies on this topic. In this activity, we will consider the first study. The authors hypothesize that even when laptops are used solely to take notes, they may still impair learning because their use results in shallower processing.

$67$ students, approximately an equal number of males and females, were recruited from the Princeton University subject pool. In this study, the goal was to determine college students' understanding of video talks $($TED Talks$)$ when viewed in small groups. Each video was about $15$ minutes in length and covered topics that would be interesting but not common knowledge.