Is comprehension the same whether a person reads a text onscreen or on paper? And are listening to and viewing content as effective as reading the written word when covering the same material? The answers to both questions are often “no.” The reasons relate to a variety of factors, including reduced concentration, an entertainment mindset and a tendency to multitask while consuming digital content.
在屏幕上和在紙上閱讀文字，理解力一樣嗎？當(dāng)涉及相同的材料時，聽和瀏覽內(nèi)容是否與閱讀書面內(nèi)容一樣有效？這兩個問題的答案通常都是“否”。原因與多種因素有關(guān)，包括注意力不集中、娛樂心態(tài)以及在消費數(shù)字內(nèi)容時多任務(wù)處理的傾向。

When reading texts of several hundred words or more, learning is generally more successful when it’s on paper than onscreen. A large amount of research confirms this finding. The benefits of print reading particularly shine through when experimenters move from posing simple tasks – like identifying the main idea in a reading passage – to ones that require mental abstraction – such as drawing inferences from a text.
當(dāng)閱讀幾百字或內(nèi)容更多的文本時，在紙上學(xué)習(xí)通常比在屏幕上學(xué)習(xí)更成功。大量研究證實了這一發(fā)現(xiàn)。當(dāng)實驗者從提出簡單的任務(wù)（如識別閱讀文章中的大意）轉(zhuǎn)向需要心理抽象的任務(wù)（例如從文本中進(jìn)行推理）時，印刷品閱讀的好處尤其明顯。

The differences between print and digital reading results are partly related to paper’s physical properties. With paper, there is a literal laying on of hands, along with the visual geography of distinct pages. People often link their memory of what they’ve read to how far into the book it was or where it was on the page.
印刷品和數(shù)字閱讀結(jié)果之間的差異在一定程度上與紙張的物理特性有關(guān)。在紙上，有一個字面意義上的手，以及不同頁面的視覺地理。人們經(jīng)常將他們對所讀內(nèi)容的記憶與書的深度或頁面上的位置聯(lián)系起來。

But equally important is the mental aspect. Reading researchers have proposed a theory called “shallowing hypothesis.” According to this theory, people approach digital texts with a mindset suited to social media, which are often not so serious, and devote less mental effort than when they are reading print.
但同樣重要的是心理方面。閱讀研究人員提出了一種名為“膚淺假說”的理論。根據(jù)這一理論，人們以一種適合社交媒體的心態(tài)來處理數(shù)字文本，而社交媒體通常并不那么嚴(yán)肅，而且與閱讀印刷品相比，他們投入的心力更少。

Audio and video can feel more engaging than text, and so university teachers increasingly turn to these technologies – say, assigning an online talk instead of an article by the same person. However, psychologists have demonstrated that when adults read news stories, they remember more of the content than if they listen to or view identical pieces.
音頻和視頻比文本更有吸引力，因此大學(xué)教師越來越多地轉(zhuǎn)向這些技術(shù)——比如，分配一個在線演講，而不是同一個人的文章。然而，心理學(xué)家已經(jīng)證明，當(dāng)成年人閱讀新聞故事時，他們會比聽或瀏覽相同的文章記住更多的內(nèi)容。

Digital texts, audio and video all have educational roles, especially when providing resources not available in print. However, for maximizing learning where mental focus and reflection are called for, educators shouldn’t assume all media are the same, even when they contain identical words.
數(shù)字文本、音頻和視頻都具有教育作用，尤其是在提供印刷品中沒有的資源時。然而，為了最大限度地提高需要集中注意力和反思的學(xué)習(xí)效果，教育工作者不應(yīng)該假設(shè)所有媒體都是一樣的，即使它們包含相同的單詞。