“我的死亡报告被夸大了!” 为什么新的研究让我们从电子书回归那些过时的书本?

2014年11月28日 TTL星腾科高端留美



作者介绍:


Michelle Walker


TTL星腾科申请/学术顾问

加州大学伯克利分校跨学科研究专业学士


我爱死书了!我爱它们的样子,气味以及或平滑或粗糙的封面材质。我喜欢感受它们在我包中的重量;喜欢久藏着的订着硬书脊的那书再次被翻开时发出的沙沙声。然而,我们都听过这样的说法:书籍正在经历恐龙曾经的历史。据皮尤研究中心年初发布的报告,32%的美国人拥有电子阅读器,42%拥有平板计算机,58%拥有智手机。由于这些移动高科技,书籍变得越来越触手可及。生活中,使用移动客户端及工具进行阅读也确实备受推崇,甚至学校也鼓励各年龄段学生这么做。这其中部分是因为有研究显示电子书籍对有些学生更有益(尤其是那些有学习与阅读赤字的孩子们)。


不仅是小学初中高中的学生在越来越多使用电子书籍和阅读材料,大学生也一样。过去,如果你需要一本书(比如说课本),你会下楼去校园书店,上亚马逊,在二手书店里费劲找一本破得没那么彻底的。现在,课本的出版商越来越提倡学生放弃实体书,进行电子书租赁。推荐理由:(1)成本合理(租书的成本只占购买实体书的一小部分)(2)便于携带(一台iPad可以装入100本电子课本)(3)课程结束的时候,学生也不需要排着队去把手里的书卖掉(电子课本在租赁期过后就自动过期了)。自然地,越来越多的学生赶趟地转向了电子书籍和电子课本。

然而,这些年人们也逐渐意识到电子科技给我们的传统行为方式(如,说,读)所带来的双刃剑的影响。我们享受电子书籍的便携,还有多种专门工具的综合(比如各类字典,交互式工具等),同时我们也在疑惑:没有了翻页的那样实实在在的触觉体验,我们是否也遗失了某些重要的东西。有新的研究表明也许真是如此。


挪威斯塔万格大学的研究人员一直在研究人们在阅读实体书和电子书后回忆能力是否有差异。该研究目前还处在初期阶段,但得出的结论已然让人震惊:不论老幼,使用电子书籍阅读的人们能回想起的内容更少。2013年,这些挪威的研究人员发表了一篇论文。他们测试了7210年级的学生,让一组学生阅读印在纸上的2篇文章,另一组则对着计算机屏幕阅读同样的两篇。然后他们对2组学生分别进行了综合阅读测试,结果表明纸张阅读的学生们得分比屏幕阅读的那组高出许多。研究人员后又进行了一组类似的测试,这次测试的对象是成年人,结果类似。虽然使用电子阅读的成年人记忆的具体情节不少于纸上阅读的那组,但对于情节贯穿的顺序则要模糊很多,导致他们对文章的综合理解能力远不及纸上阅读组。


那么,到底是什么导致人们在进行电子阅读时记忆有失精准?挪威学者的研究认为书面阅读过程中的实质触觉能够说明我们处理信息。但这是如何实现的呢?想象一下我们阅读实体书的方式,对比下阅读电子书。比如,当我们握着书本的时候,读到三分之一的时候,我们可能更容易回想起前文发生了一个关键的情节转折。我们会用手指翻页,或者提前粗略浏览,又或是返回去看那些关键的情节。有时我们也会盯着封面,感叹它这样精确地代表了整本书(或者甚至有可能我们买书仅仅是因为喜欢封面)。换句话说,我们从书的方方面面自建了一副“脑图”,从封面艺术到内容本身,正是这种有意识的(和无意识的)互动的结合,让我们在记忆信息时更加准确。总体来说,我们和电子书籍不会存在这样的互动。


当然,没人让你现在这时候抛弃自己的电子阅读器和电子书籍。然而这个有趣的研究也的确是个实证分析,让我们认识到在大范围向新科技靠拢的趋势中,应该保持适当警觉性,尤其是当我们还不甚清楚这种转变会对我们处理信息产生何种影响的时候。电子书籍,电子课本,计算机屏幕,这些阅读形式所产生的负面效果我们已经得到证实了,那就是通过这些方式进行阅读,我们所记忆的内容很可能比过时的书本阅读要少。不过,这对于各地的书籍收藏者来说倒是不错的消息。

“The Reports of My Death AreGreatly Exaggerated:” Why New Research May Have Us Returning to Old-FashionedBooks


By Michelle Walker


Admissions Consultant/Academic Counselor

B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies, UC Berkeley

I love books! I love the way they look,smell, and the sometimes smooth, sometimes rough texture of front covers. Ilove feeling the weight of them in my bag; and the way they pop and cracklewhen you open one with a stiff spine, after the first time in a while. However,we’ve all heard it before: books are going the way of the dinosaurs. According to the Pew Research Center, in a report published earlier this year, 32 percent of Americans own an e-reader, 42 percent own a tablet, and 58 percent own a smartphone.[1] With all of this mobile technology, it’s become easier than ever to access books at your fingertips. In fact, using mobile apps and tools for reading is often encouraged, even by school districts- for students of all ages - in part because research shows e-books may bebeneficial to certain types of students (particularly those with learning orreading deficits).[2]


And it’s not just elementary and high school students that are tapping more e-book and e-reading resources, butcollege students as well. It used to be that, if you needed a book (like a textbook), you’d go down to the campus bookstore, check Amazon.com, or scour usedbooksellers for a copy that wasn’t too beaten up. Today, text book publishersare increasingly steering students towards e-book rentals, instead of the real thing.[3]They market these e-text books as: (1) acost effective alternative (because the cost of rental is a fraction of what itcosts to purchase the physical book); (2) easy to carry (one iPad can hold ahundred e-textbooks);and (3) students don’t have to stand in line trying tosell them back at the end of class (access to e-textbooks expires at the end ofthe rental period).[4]Not surprisingly, more students than everbefore are turning to e-books and e-textbooks to get ahead.


And yet, over the years people have raisedquestions about how e-technology changes the way we experience traditionalactivities (like, say, reading); both positively and negatively.[5] We enjoy the portability of e-books,along with the integration of special tools (like dictionaries,interactivity,etc.), but wonder if we’re missing something significant by no longerexperiencing the tactile sensation of turning those pages. New research suggests that we just might be.


At the University of Stavanger, in Norway,researchers have been trying to determine whether people perform better onrecall tests after reading a physical book or an e-book. What they found, whilein its early stages, was a stunning confirmation that people, young and old,retain less information when they read using e-books. In a paper published in2013, the Norwegian researchers tested 72 tenth graders, requiring one group to read two texts on paper, and another to read the same texts on a lit (computer)screen. The two groups were then tested for reading comprehension, with results showing that the high schoolers who read the paper texts “scored significantly better on reading comprehension”[6] than those that read on the lit screen. A similar test (by the same researchers), this time of adults, showed a familiartrend – although adults who read an e-book were just as likely to accurately remember plot details, they were significantly less likely to remember the sequenceof those details, leading to overall lowered comprehension compared tothose who read the same text from a physical book.[7]

So, what could be causing us to rememberless accurately (or precisely) when we’re reading an e-book? The Norway studies suggest that the tactile sensation of reading a book helps us process information.But how? Think of the way we read physical books, versus e-books. For example,when we are holding a physical book, it may be easier to recall that a pivotal plot turn occurred when we were about one-third of the way through. Many peoplet humb the pages, or perhaps skim ahead or go back to revisit key scenes.Sometimes we stare at the cover, wondering how well it represents the text as awhole (or even buy books simply because we like the cover!).In other words, wecreate a “mental map”[8] of everything, from the cover art to the text itself, and it is this combination of conscious (and unconscious)interactions that helps us remember the information more precisely. By andlarge, we do not interact with e-books in the same way.


Obviously, no one should abandon their e-readers and e-books just yet. However, this interesting research does provide a case study for why we should be cautious about accepting any whole sale transition to new technology, especially when we are not sure how it might influence the way we process information: this is true for e-books,e-textbooks, and even reading on our computer screens. This, as research suggests that we may not retain as much information when we use technology aswe do just reading the old fashioned way. But, it is pretty good news for bibliophiles everywhere.



Sources(出处):

[1] Mobile Technology FactSheet (Pew Internet Projecthttp://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/)

[2]McClanahan, B., Williams, K., Kennedy, E., & Tate, S. (2012) A breakthroughfor Josh: How use of an iPad facilitated reading improvementTechTrends 56 (3), pp 20-28.

[3] Travis, S. (2014, October 3). Missing from campus bookstores – books. Sun Sentinal

(http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-lynn-college-textbooks-20141003-story.html)

[4]Westervelt,E. (2014, October 10). Why haven’t e-textbooks caught on?Minnesota Public Radio

(http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/10/10/e-textbooks)

[5]Horava, T.(2011). eBooks and memory: Down the rabbit hole? Against the Grain, (June) pp. 83-85.

[6]Mangen,A., Walgermo, B.R., Kolbjorn, B. (2013). Reading linear texts on paper versuscomputer screen: Effects on reading comprehension. International Journal of Educational Research (58), pp 61.

[7] Flood, A.(2014, August 19). Readers absorb less on Kindles than on paper, study finds.The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/19/readers-absorb-less-kindles-paper-study-plot-ereader-digitisation)

[8]Christensen, A. (2013, March 13). Paper beats computer screens. Science Nordic

(http://sciencenordic.com/paper-beats-computer-screens)


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