People tend to sigh more when they read from paper, study finds

If you feel you remember more when you read from a book compared to your phone or tablet, you are right.

But it’s not just about being more relaxed or not having the temptation to start scrolling – it’s because we tend to sigh more when we read from paper, a study has found.

‘We believe that ‘deep breathing’ – sighing – suppressed brain over-activity and had a positive effect on memory and reading comprehension,’ said lead researcher Dr Motoyasu Honma from the Showa University School of Medicine in Tokyo.

Researchers measured the breathing and brain activity of 34 people while they read on paper and smartphones.

They found people sighed 45 per cent less when reading from a smartphone, and when later asked questions about the passages their scores were on average 17 per cent lower.

Analysis showed differences in brain activity in the prefrontal cortex, part of the brain responsible for higher-level functions such as thinking.

The study, published in the nature journal Scientific Reports, found over-activity in the prefrontal cortex when people read with a smartphone which was detrimental to their understanding of the novel. This is thought to be triggered by blue light emitted from the screen.

If you feel you remember more when you read from a book compared to your phone or tablet, you are right