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

March 15, 2012 | 1:54 PM | By

Interesting news, given the growth of the digital textbook movement. From a recent study’s author: “What we found was that people on paper started to ‘know’ the material more quickly over the passage of time. It took longer and [required] 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.” Read the rest for more context.


I received a Kindle for my birthday, and enjoying “light reading,” in addition to the dense science I read for work, I immediately loaded it with mysteries by my favorite authors. But I soon found that I had difficulty recalling the names of characters from chapter to chapter.

Read more at: healthland.time.com

  • http://twitter.com/readinginmotion Reading In Motion

    This is really interesting as many schools are introducing digital technology to young students as they are just at the cusp of learning to read. Looking forward to reading more studies on how digital textbooks are being incorporated into the classroom where they are helping students achieve the necessary skill sets to build upon over years to come. 

  • Allan Algar

    I will be looking forward to some measurable studies on this topic.  My classes often receive digital only readings.  I often have requests to print them out and always assumed it was habit that would require a person to want a physical copy.  
    My instincts still think it has to do more with habit than it being digital.  When we read we are still decoding the same information.