I think the experience of feeling a physical book get “thinner” as I get closer to the end is a key part of memory recall. My mind knows I am accomplishing something (“I’m getting closer to the end!”). As I reach the end of the book I believe my mind will pay more attention to ask/resolve questions so that when I reach the end I can understand it. Bloomberg businessweek’s website has a scrolling progress bar showing you how much of the article you have read. It works well- every small scroll results in moving the progress bar at the top. Other sites estimate the length of the time to read in minutes. I personally have continued reading an article because I knew I am reaching the end.
Wired did a great job addressing the idea of comprehension in “Why the smart reading device of h future may be…paper“. Brandon Keim sums up several research studies dealing with physical vs digital reading and their result. It is too easy to discount physical books (“they burn! They aren’t searchable!”) Or digital content (“I miss the smell! I enjoy the feel!”). I’ve always been curious how much of the info we read on either medium is remembered. Keim discusses that scrolling on digital screens seemed to take a small amount of attention away, as readers need to re-find their place on the page. As someone that scans through large amounts of frequently, this is a frustration and a pain for my eyes. Paragraph breaks in physical books is much easier to track.
What strikes me is how so many people who don’t identify as having a photographic memory confess they can “remember right on the page where it was” when they discuss a quote or fact remembered in a physical book. So, here is the key question- have we trained our brains to pay special attention to where information is located in physical books because we know how hard it is to re-find it? I’m sure we have all felt the frustration of putting our finger in a book to hold our place and then in a moment of distraction lose our spot. Perhaps we have allotted extra memory to our brain’s “finger placeholder” when dealing with physical texts because we know the hassle of going back to find the content. With digital, perhaps our brains know if lost, we can re-search the query and look for the article we found, or look through our browser history. Why should I remember it if I can easily find it again? Why remember it if it isn’t important? I’ve heard this is what people with Attention Deficit Disorder struggle with- their “information buffer” isn’t working fast enough to discard distractions and focus on the important items. ADD or not- we all need helping know what is important, and I think the physical/ spacial location of information is very important to our comprehension.
Interestingly, physical books were not always preferred to digit texts- shorter papers on either medium were comprehended well.
I guess it makes sense, as Keim discusses the difference between “deep reading”, where we are immersed in something that requires more imagination and simple scanning. I think the deepest reading lately was the time I spend devouring Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. I could feel my mind focusing and exploring the thoughts and intents of the characters as I read.
I highly recommend the article. I finished amazed at how much content I have remembered (and it’s location!) and also how key it is to help my mind remember it. Several browsers have started removing the full URL in the URL area at the top. If you look up there, you will probably only see my domain and not the specific page. I personally think this affects how we remember what content we see on the web. We can’t remember the URL because it is hidden- all I see is CNN.com up there.
So, how will my lazy brain remember websites? Color schemes and the design/layout.
More websites are coloring their sections different colors a la newspaper sections. Ex.: Sports are red, Business is green, etc. This way viewers can remember the site was green and it was on CNN.com, so…I go to CNN and click on the green heading and it must be here somewhere.
Try this- spend 10 minutes reading in a digital format and then the same time in a physical medium. Which worked better for you?