Comparison of Cognitive Workload Differences Across Paper, Computer, and Tablet for Short Passage Reading Tasks

Abstract

As portable technology has become prevalent in our daily lives, peoples reading activity, especially their means of access, has changed with the variety of reading media available. People can selectively choose reading media and utilize a mixture of print and digital media based on their preferences and purposes. However, as digital reading is a natural activity for younger people, there has been growing concern that reading on digital media could profoundly affect peoples abilities, preferences, and attitudes towards reading. Taking this into account, researchers have performed comparison studies of print and digital readings with various age groups to investigate differences in reading experience and possible effects on reading abilities, such as reading time and reading comprehension. Although multiple studies have demonstrated phenomenological differences between print and digital readings, these studies have shown inconsistent findings

nevertheless, differentiating between the reading effects of print and digital media results in a wide variety of outcomes.

To further explore differences of reading experience between print and digital reading, the present study examined the differences of cognitive workloads of short passage reading tasks across print and digital media (e.g., computer and tablet). In particular, we measured both objective and subjective variables of reading experience

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of readers with eye-tracking data and survey analysis. Two laboratory experiments were conducted with undergraduate and graduate students in South Korea (n = 32

n = 52). For both experiments, students performed a number of short passage reading tasks across paper, computer, and tablet while wearing an eye-tracking device. After the experiment, students were asked to answer self-report questionnaires and to take reading comprehension tests. Results demonstrated two key findings. First, more cognitive workloads could be observed from both objective and subjective variables when reading digital media instead of print media. In particular, tablet readings demanded more cognitive workloads than print and computer readings, suggesting that it might be an inappropriate medium for short passage readings. Second, reading activities across print, computer, and tablet formats could be more psychological and subjective than we might think. Even though there were no differences in reading time and reading comprehension, readers felt they understood better and were more confident in their comprehension when reading from print than from digital media. Taken together, our results suggest that although reading on screen could exert higher levels of cognitive loads on readers, the negative effect could be insignificant for digital natives more than we might believe. Therefore, in current digital society, it is better for readers to choose reading media based on their preferences and purposes of their reading.