Why paper still beats screens for reading, Japanese study finds
Reading on paper may offer cognitive advantages over digital devices, according to a new Japanese study that found readers required less mental effort to understand and integrate information later on. The researchers tested the effect using Japanese manga stories, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
Researchers from the University of Tokyo recruited 25 university students and asked them to read the first half of several stories either in a printed book or on a tablet. Later, participants read the second half of the same stories on a digital display while undergoing functional MRI scans and then answered questions about the narratives.
The study found that participants who initially read the stories on paper required less effort when revisiting the narratives. Although overall accuracy was similar between the two groups, those who had first read the stories on a tablet took significantly longer to answer more complex questions that required combining information from different parts of the story.
According to the researchers, the longer response times suggest that readers who used tablets had to devote more mental resources to integrating and recalling information.
Brain imaging results supported those findings. Participants who first read the stories in print showed lower activity in brain regions involved in language processing and narrative integration when later reading the second halves of those stories. The researchers interpreted this as evidence that information had been encoded more effectively during the initial reading session.
By contrast, participants who first used tablets showed stronger activation in areas associated with integration and memory-related processing, particularly when answering questions that required a deeper understanding of the story.
The authors suggest that paper books may provide advantages because they offer stable spatial and tactile cues that help readers organize and remember information. Physical pages allow readers to build a clearer mental map of content, making it easier to retrieve and connect details later.
The study focused on manga because its visual narratives and page layouts make it possible to examine how readers process and integrate complex story information.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that the Kazakhstan government discussed ways to boost reading culture.