In the digital age, the shift from traditional print media to screens for reading is nearly ubiquitous, touching even the daily routines of young children. Recent research published in PLOS One provides insight into how this shift affects the brain’s processing of written content. The study finds that reading from printed paper triggers greater activity in parts of the brain associated with attention and cognitive engagement compared to reading from screens, suggesting that print may be more conducive to focused attention in children.
Previous research has shown that reading from screens can be associated with lower comprehension and retention levels compared to reading from printed materials. This phenomenon, often referred to as the “screen inferiority” effect, has been noted across various age groups but its neurobiological underpinnings, especially in children, remain underexplored.
Given the increasing incorporation of digital media into educational settings, where textbooks and paper-based reading materials are being replaced by tablets and computers, a team of researchers associated with the Israel Institute of Technology sought to better understand the specific brain activity patterns associated with digital versus print reading in young readers. To achieve this, they utilized a neuroscience tool known as electroencephalography (EEG), which records electrical activity in the brain through electrodes placed on the scalp.
The study involved fifteen children aged between 6 and 8 years, a crucial developmental stage for cognitive and reading skills. These participants were selected to represent typical development without known neurological or developmental issues.
Each child participated in a reading session where they were exposed to two different conditions: reading from printed paper and reading from a screen. Each condition involved reading age-appropriate expository texts followed by comprehension questions to assess their understanding. The comprehension questions served both to engage the children actively with the texts and to provide a measure of how well they understood the material under each medium.
When children read from printed paper, the EEG showed higher spectral power in the higher frequency bands, specifically in the beta and gamma bands. These frequencies are generally associated with greater cognitive engagement and attention. This suggests that reading from paper potentially facilitates a higher level of cognitive focus and mental alertness.
The EEG results from screen reading showed higher spectral power in the lower frequency bands, notably the alpha and theta bands. These bands are often linked with less focused attention states, such as daydreaming or mind-wandering. Additionally, a higher theta/beta ratio was observed during screen reading compared to paper reading. This ratio is commonly interpreted as a marker of cognitive load, suggesting that children may experience more difficulty in maintaining focused attention and processing information when reading from screens.
The researchers also explored the correlation between these EEG patterns and the children’s performance on standardized tests of attention. They found a significant negative correlation between the theta/beta ratio during screen reading and accuracy on the Sky-Search task, a test that measures visual attention and task focus. Higher theta/beta ratios were associated with poorer performance on this task, further supporting the notion that screen reading may impose a higher cognitive load, making it harder for children to concentrate and attend effectively to the task at hand.
Moreover, there was a positive correlation between the theta/beta ratio and the time taken to complete tasks accurately during screen reading. This suggests that not only does screen reading impact children’s ability to focus, but it also affects their efficiency in processing and responding to information, likely due to the increased cognitive effort required.
Together, the findings provide neurobiological evidence to support the idea that reading from a screen may impose a greater cognitive burden on children, affecting their ability to concentrate and process information as effectively as when reading from paper.
But the small sample size and the specific age range of the participants may limit the generalizability of the results. Future research could expand the age range and include more participants to provide a broader understanding of the neural impacts of different reading mediums. Further research is also needed to explore how these findings might vary with different types of texts (narrative versus expository) and under different reading conditions, such as interactive digital formats.
The study, “Higher theta-beta ratio during screen-based vs. printed paper is related to lower attention in children: An EEG study,” was authored by Michal Zivan, Sasson Vaknin, Nimrod Peleg, Rakefet Ackerman, and Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus.