“Studies have shown that reading printed material goes into a different part of your brain than the material we read online. Specifically, when we read online, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the left front of the brain is activated. This is the part of the brain involved in controlling decision making, complex reasoning, problem solving and vision. By contrast, when we read texts off-line, researchers found that the part of the brain associated with language, memory and visual processing is activated, not the part of the brain involved in problem-solving. And that is what you want. When reading material that you need to remember, it’s important that your executive memory not be taxed by being in problem-solving situations. We don’t realize that reading online puts us in problem-solving situations, because it happens just on the edge of conscious awareness.” From the article ‘Three Skills for Online Learning that no one is Teaching.’
