Back in the days of transition from writing with bird feathers to writing with steel tips that one didn't have to sharpen, such claims were made as well.
The way you take notes during self-directed studying is important, and should be tested, but wasn't.
Was there a different study somewhere that wasn't focused on lectures?
Experiential salience is important for learning. It would be like copy and pasting code without typing it out yourself re a tutorial.