I've always done it, and I sense a vibe from people like "he hasn't come to work" when I have a notebook and pencil, and they're on twitter/IM the entire time. There's a herdmind social pressure aspect to this.
Taking notes by hand definitely improves my memory for things. I thought it might be the process of production that did it - that it had to go through your eyes and ears into your fingers, and that the output looked nothing like the input that cemented it, but the theory advanced here (aggressive filtering) sounds good, too. I've always been annoyed at lecturers that stopped for long periods to allow notes to be taken verbatim. Wouldn't that kill the effect if that were the cause?
Taking notes by hand definitely improves my memory for things. I thought it might be the process of production that did it - that it had to go through your eyes and ears into your fingers, and that the output looked nothing like the input that cemented it, but the theory advanced here (aggressive filtering) sounds good, too. I've always been annoyed at lecturers that stopped for long periods to allow notes to be taken verbatim. Wouldn't that kill the effect if that were the cause?