Are E-Books Bad for Your Memory?

Mobiledia reporting:

Schools and universities are using e-readers and tablets as valuable learning tools, but scientists are questioning their effect on memory.

A small but growing number of researchers are uncovering evidence that readers are better able to remember what they read in printed books long-term when compared to materials read via an electronic screen. The results are raising questions on their value as learning tools, especially as tablets make their way into education.

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How the Brain Absorbs Digital vs. Printed Text: The Crucial Difference Between "Knowing" and "Remembering"
As tablets become more prevalent, scientists are finding differences in how the brain interprets printed text and digital text, a major concern for parents and educators if tablets are to become a primary teaching tool.
Kate Garland, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Leicester in England, conducted a study on the effects of e-books on memory, "bombarding" psychology students with questions on economics after reading digital and printed versions of texts, and finding two key learning differences.
First, students using digital versions of the unfamiliar material had to read the same information several times to gain the same level of knowledge as print readers. Second, students reading printed books seemed to more fully digest and understand the material.
Garland explains that memories come either from "knowing" something so well it "just comes to you," or "remembering" it by first deciphering the context and then recalling the answer. "Knowing" is the higher form of memory, because these thoughts arrive faster and more seamlessly.
"What we found was that people on paper started to 'know' the material more quickly over the passage of time," says Garland. "It took longer and... 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."

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The Importance of Physical Locations and Human Memory
Scientists theorize another factor, spatial context, is also particularly important when dealing with memorization. In his blog, neuroscientist Mark Changizi explains that "in nature, information comes with a physical address [and often a temporal one], and one can navigate to and from the address. Those raspberry patches we found last year are over the hill and through the woods -- and they are still over the hill and through the woods."
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