If you want to understand the value of print versus digital in marketing, look at the world of education. Studies consistently find that while digital communications have great value in providing top-level information quickly when it comes to processing deeper concepts, print is the hands-down winner. These results were recently confirmed in a groundbreaking study from Columbia University’s Teacher’s College.
For this study, researchers presented middle-school students with educational materials in print and on screen. The children’s brain responses were captured using electroencephalography (EEG), and the results were published in the May 2024 edition of the journal PLOS.
Let’s take a look:
Digital text presentation is associated with shallower processing. When the children read on screen, researchers found that all the children showed a shallower level of processing. They had difficulty making meaningful associations between their reading and related words and concepts.
Print results in deeper processing. When educational materials were presented on paper, the children’s brain responses showed a “print advantage” for deeper information processing. On average, researchers found that the “meaning” networks built during print reading were richer and deeper than those established during digital reading.
“Neuroscience provides methods to explore the intricate brain processes that contribute to reading,” notes Karen Froud, lead author of the study and Principal Investigator for the Neurocognition of Language Lab at Teachers College. “This allows us to understand the underlying mechanisms rather than just observing reading behavior itself... By recording brain activations, it is possible to identify subtle distinctions in the depth of processing between texts presented on computer screens and those presented on paper.”
In a world dominated by electronic communication, paper continues to show muscle. Studies like this one consistently show that paper aids the absorption and retention of information. These are the same characteristics that help your prospects absorb and retain your marketing message, too.
Paper remains a mainstay of marketing for a reason!
