I've never used an ebook but I don't believe it could be any different as far as memory goes.

I believe it. I read an article recently that explained how reading a physical book uses the same parts of the brain that one uses to map locations or understand your physical position. I assume that's why I can easily think, "Oh, that character showed up earlier, where was it, about a third of the way through on the right hand page." (The article said this was common ability, I don't think it's only me.) I can easily do this with a physical book, I am totally at sea with an e-book.

It would stand to reason, then, that after reading an e-book where you're adrift in the story on an endless white screen, you wouldn't have the same additional spacial anchors (for lack of a better description) in place to help you remember the story. So I'm not surprised the information doesn't remain as long in the memory.

That's my very unscientific two cents, anyway :)

I read in both formats, and I vastly prefer a physical book. Of course, I am over 50, I'd be interested to know what younger people think.

This is something I've long suspected, at least in my case. It's good for me to know that it happens to other readers too. "Oh, that character showed up earlier, where was it, about a third of the way through on the right hand page." (The article said this was common ability, I don't think it's only me.) Sheri, I also do that. I can stop reading anywhere on a page of a physical book, put it down, and come back to the exact place where I left off, such as near the bottom of the left-hand page. My DH thinks this is fantastic because he can't do it. I never thought it was a special ability; it's just something that my brain does for me subconsciously. I've never had an explanation for it, though, that satisfies DH; but with the description you read, Sheri, about it being similar to finding 'map locations or...physical position' now I think I can lay that on him and he might understand! Interestingly, I think, I am a good map reader and know which compass position I'm in, most of the time. But with an e-book I am essentially without my inner 'compass'.

Frieda, exactly! I know you can mark things in an e-book and some of them even have decent page numbers, but the navigation is just not the same.

I was able to find the article I referenced above (Scientific American, April 2013, "The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens"). Here are the important bits:

Evidence from laboratory experiments, polls and consumer reports indicates that modern screens and e-readers fail to adequately recreate certain tactile experiences of reading on paper that many people miss and, more importantly, prevent people from navigating long texts in an intuitive and satisfying way. In turn, such navigational difficulties may subtly inhibit reading comprehension. Compared with paper, screens may also drain more of our mental resources while we are reading and make it a little harder to remember what we read when we are done ...

As far as our brains are concerned, however, text is a tangible part of the physical world we inhabit. In fact, the brain essentially regards letters as physical objects because it does not really have another way of understanding them ...

Beyond treating individual letters as physical objects, the human brain may also perceive a text in its entirety as a kind of physical landscape. When we read, we construct a mental representation of the text in which meaning is anchored to structure.

The link is below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scientific American

This post was edited by sheriz6 on Tue, Sep 9, 14 at 20:32

Thank you for the references. I hesitated about writing this because I didn't have more information, chat shows don't go into that kind of detail usually! However, I wanted to bring up this subject for a discussion.
I usually read printed books but sometimes get the audio version if that is all the library has to offer. This isn't the same either as the reader interprets the work to some degree. That is a help with pronunciation such as foreign names, places etc. though.
Many years ago I used to listen to books read on the radio while I did housework. I got very interested in one book but never heard it to the end as I moved interstate and wasn't able to get that particular station any more. I was too busy to recall the title so whether the lady was able to keep her roof garden in spite of opposition remains a mystery!

I read about this study. My thought is that I don't remember less from reading ebooks than printed books, but I remember it differently.

What I remember from ebooks is not anchored to a location in the text like what I read in printed books, unless I happened to glance at the black line at the bottom of my Kindle screen that shows where you are in a book. It's more like remembering something I read long ago and no longer have any clue as to where in the book it is.

(That aside, I still, after four years of owning a Kindle, find annoying how slow and difficult it is to go back in an ebook to find some half-recalled detail.)

What the study claimed for ebooks is, for me, true about audio books. I recall less from them than printed books or ebooks, which is why I prefer to listen to books I have already read over books I have never read before.

I read a similar article, and what Netla said made sense to me.

Having said that, I certainly do enjoy ebooks, especially when traveling. And there are actually books I like better as audio books than as printed ones, the LotR being an example.

But any book I truly love, I want to own printed on paper. It is more real to me that way, and more enduring.

Rosefolly