Computers are closely linked to education today and the Internet can offer any help you want. But for now experts say, don't throw away your books. Researchers in Spain and Israel took a close look at 54 studies comparing digital and print reading. Their 2018 study involved more than 171 . 000 readers. " Students often think they learn more from reading online. When tested, though, it turns out that they actually learned less than when reading in print, says the researcher.
Reading is not natural, explains Maryanne Wolf, a neuroscientist who specializes in how the brain reads. We learn to talk by listening to those around us. It's pretty automatic. But learning to read takes real work. It's because the brain has no special network of cells just for reading. To understand text, the brain borrows networks that evolved(进化) to do other things. This is similar to how you might adapt a tool for some new use. For example, a coat hanger is great for putting your clothes in the closet. But if a blueberry rolls under the refrigerator, you might straighten out the coat hanger and use it to reach under the fridge and pull out the fruit. You've taken a tool made for one thing and adapted it for something new. That's what the brain does when you read.
It's great that the brain is so flexible. It's one reason we can learn to do so many new things. But that can be a problem when you make a switch from your reading material to another type of it. Namely, when we read online , the brain creates a different set of connections between cells from the ones it uses for reading in print. It basically adapts the same tool again for the new task. This is like if you took a coat hanger and instead of straightening it out to fetch a blueberry, you twisted it into a hook to unclog a drain(疏通下水道). Same original tool, two very different forms.
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