The Debate on Digital Readers vs. Hardcopy Books

A recent study may provide clarity on whether digital readers or printed books are more effective by examining the brain processes involved in each reading format.

Published in the journal PLOS ONE, the findings suggest that printed text helps the brain better process and connect story details. In contrast, e-readers present text and images on a screen, which might leave readers with fewer physical cues for understanding the narrative.

Researchers from the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences utilized a Japanese comic known as manga to investigate how the brain creates “narrative schemata,” or mental frameworks that arrange the characters, timelines, and relationships within a story.

The results indicated that printed materials offer tactile and spatial cues—like the thickness of the book and the arrangement of events on the page—which may enable readers to mentally map the story more effectively than they could with digital tablets.

This study was conducted in collaboration with Coremix Co., Ltd., a Japanese manga publisher known for popular titles like Record of Ragnarok and Wakako Sake.

Kuniyoshi Sakai, a professor at the Graduate School of Basic Science at the University of Tokyo, mentioned that the team was somewhat “surprised” by these findings.

The researchers involved 25 right-handed Japanese university students. This specific parameter aimed to minimize variability in brain tissue, as noted by the American Academy of Neurology.

Due to the interference caused by digital devices during standard MRI techniques, participants entered an fMRI scanner right after reading the first half of the comic, whether in physical form or on a screen. They then read the second half of the story using specialized goggles.

Afterward, participants took a quiz about the plot. Some questions focused on just the first half, while others required synthesizing information from both halves.

Overall, both groups scored well on accuracy and comprehension. However, those who had read the first half on a tablet took longer to answer more intricate questions that required merging details from different story sections.

Sakai shared that both brain hemispheres, which are essential for language functions and reading support, were less active when reading printed manga, indicating that understanding the content might be easier on paper compared to a digital format. “These neuroscientific findings highlight a notable immediate effect of reading on paper that might ultimately lead to changes in brain function,” he explained.

Moreover, the study found that participants who read the physical manga showed decreased brain activity in areas associated with language processing and story integration, which was interpreted as the brain performing tasks more efficiently. In contrast, tablet readers exhibited increased activity in these regions, suggesting that they needed more cognitive effort to piece together the story during the final quiz.

This leads to the conclusion that those reading from print were constructing a stronger “schema” in their minds during their initial reading.

Interestingly, despite the differences in formats, Sakai justified the choice of manga because its illustrative nature makes it accessible at various reading levels. “A novel or any other traditional text would yield similar results since the essence of the storyline and context remains consistent,” he noted.

The exploration into the effects of digital reading continues; however, this isn’t the first investigation comparing tablets and traditional books. A 2019 study in the journal Pediatrics found that parents and children had better comprehension and bonding when reading physical books together, as opposed to e-readers.

Dr. Tiffany Manzer, the lead researcher from the University of Michigan, emphasized at the time that “paper books are essentially the gold standard for fostering positive interactions between parents and children.”