Posted September 19, 2014 by Tristan Colasito

Do you prefer to read on a gadget? Or do you still enjoy every flip of a page on the ol’ printed hardcopy book? For those that read books and ebooks, do you notice a difference when it comes to the reading experience? Well, an article published on The Guardian talks about studies that show differences between electronic gadget (e.g. Kindle, Ipad) readers and paperback readers.

In one study, results show that after reading a story, paperback readers were able to immerse themselves more compared to those who read on an iPad.

On the other hand, in another study, immersion levels were similar, but the recalling of the sequence of events was significantly different. Those who read on a Kindle performed worse in this task compared to those who read on print.

Lastly, in another study, 10th graders were asked to read either in print or on an electronic gadget. Then they would take a reading comprehension test. Results showed that those who read on print scored higher on the reading comprehension test compared to those who read on an electronic gadget.

The researchers suggest that one of the reasons behind this could be because hardcopy books provide more stimuli compared to an eBook. One of which is the flipping of pages. However, I still think this is a matter of preference.

To know more: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/19/readers-absorb-less-kindles-paper-study-plot-ereader-digitisation

Photo taken from amazon.com