Reading or listening to information can change the way our brain treats and responds
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As a passionate reader – and also author – I am discouraged by frequent reports of a drop in reading for the pleasure of young people. But when a friend recently asked me if her daughter received the same cognitive advantages of an audio book as to read, my instinct was to think that “she benefits from a book, the format does not matter”. However, when I dug science, I found that the medium shapes the mind in a subtly different but significant way.
The advantages of reading
There is no doubt that reading is good for us. Beyond the knowledge he offers and the opportunities he opens, a litany of studies connects a good literacy in childhood to physical and mental health – and another longer life.
Reading is believed to have three important cognitive processes. First, he encourages “deep reading”, in which we establish links between the sections of the material, reflect on its relevance for our own lives and we ask survey questions on its content – which can all change our point of view on life itself.
Second, reading cultivates empathy and increases our emotional intelligence, the qualities that are supposed to help us face stress and other real world challenges. And thirdly, there are links between reading and the development of “theory of the mind” – the ability to understand how the thoughts and beliefs of others differ from ours.
But it can be difficult to disentangle the effects that reading has on our lives from other factors. People who read the most can also benefit from privileges such as more free time, more money or even a genetic predisposition to find reading more easily, and these can in turn affect health, cognition or longevity.
However, a study of more than 3,500 people who tried to take these factors into account, revealed that those who read books for about 30 minutes a day were 20% less likely to die in the next 12 years than those who have not read at all. They also found that this advantage was more important for those who read books compared to those who only read newspapers or magazines.
Screens, electronic edges and audio books
When it comes to comparing printed reading with other supports, such as electronic readers, research becomes more complex. A certain number of studies suggest that reading text on a screen encourages us to go through and therefore understand less than if we read the same text on paper.
There are other subtle differences. In a series of experiences, Anne Mangen at the University of Stavanger in Norway and Frank Hakemulder at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands have found that people who frequently read shorter and screen-based texts were less likely than books of books to seek a way in a passage. In addition, the more people were exposed to screen reading, the less persistence in the fight against longer literary texts.
Regarding audio books, the evidence is thinner, but reassuring – studies generally find understanding is generally similar, whether you read or listen to a book. However, some subtle differences have emerged. A meta -analysis of 46 studies, for example, found reading gave a slight advantage when it comes to making inferences on a text – as the interpretation of a character’s feelings.
Different ways of thinking
In fact, the act of listening rather than reading seems to draw from different elements of our cognition. A study of people who had spoken or written problems to answer, for example, revealed that individuals reasoned more intuitively when listening to the problem and more deliberately when reading.
Listening to an audio book also involves hearing the voice of another person, often bringing intonation, rhythm and emotion that can shape his interpretation, explains Janet Geipel at the University of Exeter, in the United Kingdom. Reading, on the other hand, is based on our inner voice, which can make the experience more at rhythm and inflexity personally. These differences, she says, could potentially influence our way of processing and using information.
Nevertheless, “listening to audio books is not intrinsically harmful,” explains Geipel. “What can make it harmful is the way attention is managed: if you are fully focused, listening is just as effective as reading, but if you are multitasking during listening, your treatment depth can be lower than when you sit and read without distraction.”
Choose what works for you
Listen while Reading adds another dimension. A meta-analysis by Virginia Clinton-Lisell at the University of Dakota in the North suggests that there can be a small advantage to understanding listening when reading, but this probably only applies to people who have trouble decoding words, such as those who have lower literacy levels or those who learn to read in a second language. Competent readers could feel a negative effect due to the “cognitive charge theory”, in which the presentation of information in two formats causes redundancy and risks crushing our limited cognitive resources.
In the end, there are many reasons why you can choose audio books rather than printing – dyslexia, vision problems, long journey or a simple preference. As for whether you get the same advantages of doing so? “There is no simple answer,” says Geipel.
If you have the choice, you may want to save a really interesting podcast or a book that you need to think deeply, for a time when you can give it all your attention, rather than when you prepare dinner. But if, like my friend’s daughter, do you engage in a story of pure pleasure? The use of an audio book seems a much better choice than not to make it at all.
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