Do E-Books Make It Harder to Remember What You Just Read?

[Barcey]

What was the question again? I can't remember.

There's no difference for me. My workplace has been almost 100% paper free for years. All my reference manuals and training manuals are electronic. All my deliverables are soft copies. Every now and then I'll attend a meeting where some helpful person will print out a 100 page document we're working on (because they prefer paper), I just work off my computer and recycle the paper. I like to read historical fiction that spans centuries and has many characters, I've never noticed a difference in keeping track of characters.

Maybe it's something like eye strain on LCD screens and some people experience it more than others.

[meeera]

You might be interested in the discussion we had here at the time:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=172179

and this related one

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=225823

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by meeera

You might be interested in the discussion we had here at the time:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=172179

and this related one

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=225823

Great find! Now we have a few new faces and another interesting discussion.

Dale

[BadBilly]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I am bemused by the way any criticism of e-reading, however slight, seems always to be met here with disbelief and disdain.

Look, once you know something, why would you want to let facts get in the way?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I am bemused by the way any criticism of e-reading, however slight, seems always to be met here with disbelief and disdain.

Scientists meet all science* with scepticism. It's how science works.

* or should

[jj2me]

Originally Posted by Catlady

It is not as easy to flip back screens as it is to flip back pages. It is not as easy to find something that your mind remembers was near the bottom of the page when there's no page.

The search function only works if you remember the specific wording rather than the idea.

This is exactly true for me too. Spatial memory, I suppose. Until this thread, I thought most everyone would miss the spatial memory aspect of pbooks.

Now that I think of it, a colleague at work expressed amazement that I could quickly find a specific document among very many large piles.

I'm a slow reader. I wonder if that's related somehow? Allowing sufficient time to subconsciously absorb the additional cues. Perhaps others subconsciously weed out that information as extraneous.

[jj2me]

Originally Posted by meeera

Scientists meet all science* with scepticism. It's how science works.

* or should

How about with an open mind?

Seems a stretch to think that all scientific discovery came from doubt.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I am bemused by the way any criticism of e-reading, however slight, seems always to be met here with disbelief and disdain.

When the methodology of some organised criticism seems flawed then of course people on here are going to cast doubt on the results, this study comes across as one where they had decided their conclusion before starting and designed their tests to help them 'prove' that conclusion.

[NickyWithNook]

I personally found it difficult to remember what I had just read when the type was light and small, but that is about the size of type and not whether it is on an electronic device or paper.

[DiapDealer]

Yawn.

Words, eyes, brain. The rest is up to peoples' personal hard-wiring, biases, and ability (or lack thereof) to let the medium become invisible.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Crowl

When the methodology of some organised criticism seems flawed then of course people on here are going to cast doubt on the results, this study comes across as one where they had decided their conclusion before starting and designed their tests to help them 'prove' that conclusion.

As opposed to the way people here use limited anecdotal evidence supporting their beliefs to "prove" that they're right?

[calvin-c]

I've got to both agree & disagree. I have no more trouble remembering what I've e-read than what I've p-read but I do find it easier to search a p-book when I don't remember exactly what I'm looking for, i.e. I need to skim a book to find whatever it is. Skimming I definitely find easier in a p-book because I can read two pages at once-and generally they're at least twice as long as a screen so two p-pages, which I skim in a second or two, is equivalent to 4 screens which I skim in maybe 30 seconds. (I haven't timed either. Maybe the difference isn't as extreme as it feels.)

It also makes a difference why I'm reading. If I'm studying then I do *lots* of re-reading. Again, that's easier (for me) in a p-book. If I'm reading for relaxation then even when I think 'who is this person' I generally wait to pick it up from context-and if that doesn't work then most of the time the question isn't important.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by elcreative

Probably the defence of ereading tends to be because most people, on here, are a elf-selecting, strongly pro-ereading group by the nature of the forum - mobile read...

It is the Christmas season, after all.

[OtterBooks]

"First, more repetition was required with computer reading to impart the same information."

I'm open to the idea that e-ink reading somehow has a different effect on memory, but this article shoves false-equivalence all over the place. Computer does not equal eink. Eink visually has more in common with paper than LCD.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by jj2me

How about with an open mind?

Seems a stretch to think that all scientific discovery came from doubt.

It might seem a stretch but it's pretty much the truth. Bear in mind that there's a difference between doubt & rejection. You could also say that scientific discovery came from wondering whether or not such-and-such is true (and testing the question) but how is that different from doubting that it is true (and testing, of course). Hmm, maybe you're right that no scientific discovery comes from doubt alone....