Readers using electronic books are less likely to absorb what they have read because the information is presented in such simple form. Devices such as the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader display text in such a clear, legible format that this encourages the brain to be ‘lazy’, making it more difficult to take things on board, research suggests. The findings go against the conventional wisdom that legibility makes it easier for people to learn and remember information.
新电子科技时代的到来大大革新了人们的阅读方式和阅读习惯，网上海量电子读物的下载方便了书虫的生活。可是，专家发现，广泛使用电子阅读器，比如：索尼电子阅读器(Sony Reader)和亚马逊手提阅读器(Amazon Kindle)的读者因阅读方式变得“太过于方便”，导致“大脑偷懒”，读者看过信息就会忘记。专家的这一发现与电子阅读器厂商所宣传的：方便学习与吸收信息等相冲突，一方面科技提高了阅读效率，但是另一方面科技也退化了人类自身的能力。

A study by Princeton University found that a significant number of those tested could recall more information when it was presented in unusual typefaces. The research suggests that introducing 'disfluency' - by making information superficially harder to understand - deepens the process of learning and encourages better retention. The psychologists said information which has to be actively generated rather than 'passively acquired' from simple text is remembered longer and more accurately.
据悉，由美国普林斯顿大学牵头的关于“电子阅读器”效率的实验中，专家发现读者在阅读普通传统“纸质”读物时，可以回忆起更多的信息。专家分析，传统纸质读物相对于电子阅读器的“不方便性”增加了读者的阅读难度，使得读者相对更珍惜自己的阅读信息，这种“阅读不流利”一定程度上鼓励了书虫们开动自己的大脑去思考书中的信息与问题，提高了记忆的效率。心理学家分析，这种“主动性学习”(阅读纸质读物)相比“被动性学习”(阅读电子阅读器)更加能增强读者的主动性。换句话来说，书虫们都有一种心理：我都看得那么费劲了，不记点东西下来就太可惜了吧。

It has been argued that e-readers and computers hinder us from absorbing information because their screens and fonts tell our subconscious that they words they convey are not important. Mr Lehrer said the study showed the whole history of typography was had missed the point when it comes to learning. He said: 'It has been a movement towards easy to read fonts. We assume that anything which makes it easier to see the content is a good thing. 'When we see a font that is easy to read we're able to process that in a mindless way, but when we see an unfamiliar font, one full of weird squiggles, we have to work a little bit harder.'That extra effort is a signal to the brain that this might be something worth remembering.'
此外，有专家还分析，读者还有一种心理，估计是电子阅读器显示方式是“屏幕”或者电脑的缘故，读者会觉得这种提供信息的方法不够正式，进而会有电子阅读器提供的信息也不会那么准确和重要的心理。专家Mr Lehrer 说：“电子阅读器彻底革新了人类阅读习惯，不管怎样，我们必须肯定它带来的方便性，然而不可否认的是过于方便的科技会让我们自己退化。这也解释了为何阅读纸质读物、或者比较难阅读的东西时，我们会记得比较多，因为它需要我们多费点功夫去理解。”对令人难忘。这恐怕是迄今为止，最自然的、最直接让您在事业上一飞冲天的方法。”