Item — HN Reader

> These findings provide evidence of differences in brain responses to texts presented in print and digital media, including deeper semantic encoding for print than digital texts.

I wonder if the effect diminishes if the digital media is more like paper, as with e-readers, or if it is due to other differences like scrolling versus page turning.

3 comments

My hunch is that it's the spatial relationship of scanning or turning left and right with a physical object.

After years of taking notes in paper and e-ink and keyboard, I love paper because of the spaced repetition that's forced when I'm scanning back for old entries in a notebook. It is probably the root of all my memorization and free association.

Whether I'm "bookmarking" e books or trying to do clumsy search for old entries, I think I pick up a lot just by seeing the notes again by accident, feeling the page, or something else. Can't say but it's nowhere close for me with electric media.

I don't share this take. If it isn't in my digital notes it may as well not exist. When I write with a digital pen it is much better. I also tend to write more useful information since I'm not worrier about space. When reviewing it is useful to have easy access to multiple colors, so I can express things more easily.

But you're not responding to the claim (or claims) being made.

The main claim is that digital media remove the spatial element from the picture, making it more difficult to remember things. This isn't a crazy notion. Think of the method of loci[0] which explicitly uses an imaginary space to "keep" information for later recall. This must be, because spatial association is something useful for navigating spatial environments, so if you cannot lean on that to reinforce memory and recall, then you're at a greater disadvantage.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci

Interesting, I have a kindle paperwhite and I much prefer real books, especially for non fiction. I don't know why though, I have no inkling of what it is I find better.

It’s still a screen