Re: Does your brain work differently when you are working on the computer?

The computer is not the thing that you are testing.  You are testing different 
parts of a person's brain function.  

When you test "verbally," you are testing a person's auditory system, and their 
ability to understand speech sounds (these are called "phonetic sounds" and, 
when combined into consonant-vowel pairs, they are called "phonemes").  You are 
also testing their ability to understand the phoneme groups (which are 
called "words") in the left cerebral hemisphere of their brain.  Some things 
can interfere with that, such as hearing loss (even mild hearing loss), and 
also whether the person had English as their first or second language. Problems 
in processing auditory information can cause problems with understanding verbal 
information, so you do need to make sure that the people you are testing don't 
have any hearing loss or auditory processing problems.

Testing "writing" is a test of several brain functions.  First, of course, it 
tests the ability of a person to hold a pen or pencil and make the proper 
written marks on the paper, so this is a test of physical function, and eye-
hand coordination.  Second, you are testing the visual system, because a person 
is seeing what they are writing, and must also read the written instructions.  
If the person has a visual problem, or a reading problem, then their score will 
be lower than normal, so you do need to make sure there are no significant 
visual or visually-related learning disabilities for the people you are 
testing.  Also, answers to "written" questions are based on verbal knowledge, 
since written words in English are based on speech sounds, so an auditory 
processing problem can affect the scores on written examinations, too.

Testing on a computer is pretty much the same as for the "written" exams (which 
include auditory speech sound knowledge for the decoding of the printed 
alphabetic characters, plus visual physical eye coordination and tracking, and 
visual pattern recognition).  The only difference between a "written" test on 
paper and a "written" test on a computer is the way you input the information 
physically.  You use a pen and paper for the written test, and you use a 
keyboard for the computer test. 

If the person types faster than they write, or if they are more comfortable 
with the keyboard than with a pen and paper, you should get better scores on 
the computerized test.  However, if the person has visual problems, the 
computer screen can make visual problems much worse (the print is smaller, 
there is more glare from the screen, etc.).

The reason that you can't find much information about research like the one you 
are doing is because there are so many different systems of the brain that you 
are testing with your research project.  There are many studies on visual 
processing, other studies on auditory processing, and other studies on brain 
control of physical movements.  And in your study, two of your sections 
(writing and computers) are basically the same, with only a difference in the 
physical way that the information is answered (pen/paper or keyboard).  You are 
combining so many different brain functions and so many different ways of 
processing information into one single research study.

Most researchers prefer to do a very restricted study, focusing on only one 
function of the brain, or even one part of one function of the brain.  That 
way, they get a bit of new information about how one part of the brain works.  
And when many researchers add little bits of knowledge, and share it with other 
researchers, then a whole picture comes together, like bits of a puzzle.  That 
is how scientific research works.

You also need to be aware that there are differences between individual people 
about how they learn best, and how they perform on tests best.  Some people 
learn best by doing things physically, and these people are called "tactile" 
or "haptic" learners.  Other people have a natural tendency to learn things 
better by hearing, and they are called "auditory" learners. And other people 
learn best when they see things visually, with graphs, charts, diagrams, 
pictures, etc., and they are called "visual" learners.

Your research study seems to be testing whether a person is better as a visual, 
or auditory learner, but not everyone is the same.  So, you aren't 
testing "general" brain function that can apply to everyone.  Your results will 
show, for ONLY the people you have tested, which ones are more "visual 
learners" and which ones are more "auditory" learners. And for the two groups 
of visual learners, you will be able to say which ones are better physically 
with a pen and paper and which ones are better typing on a computer. Your 
research is based on individual differences, and while it is very interesting, 
it cannot be "generalized" to apply to an entire population group -- it is only 
research about the people you actually test. I would suggest that you test at 
least 40 people, because that is the minimum amount of people used in standard 
research studies.