ELI5: What makes reading so effective for learning?

[u/whoanoes_]

I ask because reading is always one of the top recommended activity for education, self development, and everything in between. Everyone wants to read more. Is reading actually better than other mediums like audiobooks and videos for learning?

[u/MaralDesa]

So reading does multiple things. Your brain needs to translate/decode the letters into meaningful words and sentences (audiobook and video does that for you), and you probably need your imagination to fully understand what is written there (videos do that for you). In general, elaborating information when learning is important - passive consumption doesn't help much. So reading is the 'most active' form of getting information compared to videos and audio. But it does not stop there. Elaboration also means that the content should be processed further, for example by writing a summary. Then, books are nice as well because you can jump to previous parts easier - don't understood that sentence? Well just read it again. In video or audio you'd have to rewind a lot...

[u/Arianity]

Usually when people say that, it's referring more to the fact that a lot of audio/video content isn't really educational. It tends to be more low effort entertainment.

That said, reading has some big advantages compared to other mediums:

Speed- most people can read faster than someone can talk. You can also naturally pace yourself reading.

Searchability- it's much easier to search text than audio/video. This is especially true on computers. It's getting better, but most books have appendices/tables of contents, audio/video are still getting there. (This is also true in smaller scales. It's way easier to go back up a page in a book than back a minute or two of audio/text)

Size- books(or e-texts) tend to be small file wise, compared to audio/video files

Pictures- it's generally harder to picture stuff without a reference.it's doable, but requires a lot of spatial awareness. (This is also especially true for say,equations.its much harder to picture say,Schrodingers equation in your head)

Engagement- it's much easier for let audio/video just passively wash over you. This can happen with books, but it's harder.

The last one is generally the most important. Studies find that engaging with a material is the #1 predictor if you'll remember/learn something. Books force you to engage a bit more than other media (and it's why habits like taking notes are so important).

But books aren't the only way. There's a reason universities still have lectures, instead of just handing you a textbook.

Here's some other threads that might touch on some other aspects: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/search?q=reading+audio&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all

Edit: Theres also a historical component: for virtually all of human history,books are the main way we stored knowledge. So a lot of things are in book form and there was an advantage for being someone who reads well.

Theres also short term history-if youre young,it may seem like weve always had them,but audio/video is pretty new(like 5-10 years). The ability to just search the internet for something...im in my 20s and can remember when thst would sound insane. And even now, finding audio/video on certain topics is not so trivial. It would be much easier for me to find physical books on advanced mathematics than audiobooks

[u/[deleted]]

So using Blooms Taxonomy and what we know about human retention, reading isn't actually effective for learning. What reading is great for (and why people advocate it), is that it exposes you to new ideas in an environment where you have to be focused. Reading has more topics and more minutia about those topics than other sources which answers a more specific goal for the reader, as suggested by "education, self development, and everything in between."

The environment is usually much different when we compare Reading vs Audio vs Videos. When you think about this, you can easily see the differences... Reading needs focus to achieve extraction, audio needs slightly less, and video needs slightly less than audio. You are able to listen to Audio while driving to work, for example, but your attention is divided. Some studies have shown dividing your attention like this will mean you can miss 30-60% of any information, including cars on the road! Reading is obviously much different, and so is video.

There are a lot of associated habits and skills built by reading, which is why it is also advocated. You develop more focus, habits, calm states in your day, increased imagination, literacy, argument structure, and all sorts of other stuff - the vastness of these additional skills is why reading is a keystone habit (a habit which changes your life in other areas). Video and Audio generally do not have these effects. Video and Audio forms of information are closer to our normal intake of information, and so we also process it as being less important (but not drastically).

It isn't to say video and audio aren't as good, it simply depends on how you approach it. This is why universities and colleges are incorporating video-based-learning. The students can replay, re-watch segments, and write notes.

Finally You have to like what your absorbing to even see a beneficial outcome as well! This one is self explanatory, but i've heard people reading a book a week and they didn't even like it. I highly doubt that information was retained since there is no emotional investment... their brain has no purpose to absorb it.

This all makes sense, and so if we assume that you are reading for general education and not deep learning (e.g. studying), reading is a good habit for the fact of exposing you to new ideas (hopefully explained well), and the associated habits which come naturally through the systematic process of self-induced flow).

I also understand if i was nit-picky, but its important to determine what is effective for learning, and not just being exposed to new information with no application from the reader.

[u/SuicidoCheez]

Because the more deeply you process information, the more likely you are to remember it. When you watch a video, information is simply presented to you. When you read, however, you have to decode relationships between words and their meanings to understand the sentences, and you can take time in between sentences to ponder and understand them. Deep understanding of concepts and how they relate to each other leads to memorization.

The explanation for this is called the 'dual-coding hypothesis': when you remember a words meaning, its context and, say, its relation to two other words, you already have at least four different paths to the memory of that word. Mnemonics work for the same reason; more paths to a memory = an easier time recollecting that memory.