Do We “Know” More When We Read On Paper?
Lorien Crow, writing on Mobiledia:
“A small but growing number of researchers are uncovering evidence that readers are better able to remember what they read in printed books long-term when compared to materials read via an electronic screen. The results are raising questions on their value as learning tools, especially as tablets make their way into education.
As tablets become more prevalent, scientists are finding differences in how the brain interprets printed text and digital text, a major concern for parents and educators if tablets are to become a primary teaching tool. Kate Garland, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Leicester in England, conducted a study on the effects of e-books on memory, ‘bombarding’ psychology students with questions on economics after reading digital and printed versions of texts, and finding two key learning differences.
First, students using digital versions of the unfamiliar material had to read the same information several times to gain the same level of knowledge as print readers. Second, students reading printed books seemed to more fully digest and understand the material.
Garland explains that memories come either from ‘knowing’ something so well it ‘just comes to you,’ or ‘remembering’ it by first deciphering the context and then recalling the answer. ‘Knowing’ is the higher form of memory, because these thoughts arrive faster and more seamlessly.
‘What we found was that people on paper started to “know” the material more quickly over the passage of time,” says Garland. ‘It took longer and… more repeated testing to get into that knowing state with the computer reading, but eventually the people who did it on the computer caught up with the people who were reading on paper.’”
There’s much more in this fascinating article—i urge you to read it, here, and tell me what you think.
I have found this to be true not only in my own reading but also with math instruction for my homeschooled son. The information simply does not penetrate as deeply or stick as well when presented digitally. I need the printed page and a highlighter in hand, he needs paper and pencil it seems.
Moreover, given that my memory has a strong visual component, I am less able to recall exactly where I have seen or read something online than I am from a printed source.
Hi Annie!
As a consumer of both print and e-books, reading this article was rather interesting. I read through the source article and in reading the reason as to why information is better retained when there is spatial context, I recognized the similarity in my own studies. I am reading a physical book and an e-book at the same time. I am also listening to a podcast. Of the three, I am retaining more information from the podcast primarily because as I hear the material while I drive, I correlate what I am hearing with my location. It may sound silly, but, for example, I recall hearing the professor speak about Kinsey while I was exiting a particular off-ramp. If I recall in my mind that particular off-ramp, I recall that Kinsey was the topic discussed on the podcast. This makes sense with the physical book since it is feasible to correlate a topic with its physical location on the page. The only challenge, though, is that page after page can look similar and it can become difficult to distinguish location depending on the length of the book.
Interesting article to say the least!
~A~
In Thailand this year there is an initiative by the government to give every first grade student a tablet. It’s came out of the One Laptop Per Child initiative.
I think there is something to the physical aspects of books that are better for learning. For example, I can often remember where approximately I have to open a book to find a certain passage, because I somehow memorized the “thickness” of the pages. You can’t do that with an e-reader. But I think the advantages far outweight the disadvantages.
The biggest problem I see with e-readers is that neither students nor teachers are trained in how to effectively use them to faciliate learning. It’s an idea with great potential, but someone should take care of the details of implementation as well. Sure, kids are smart and will figure out a lot by themselves, but many teachers basically think of tablets as “textbooks with buttons”.
Thank you so much for some hard evidence on this. I find that anything important I read online I end up printing out, copying to a Word file for reference or emailing to myself.
Instructional videos are also much more difficult to absorb and retain unless they come with a PDF.
Most of all, being relaxed in a favorite corner with a book focuses me much better than something electronic!