Why listening to a book is not the same as reading it?

Why listening to a book is not the same as reading it?

Listening to an audiobook activates the brain network specialized for auditory processing, while reading a printed book activates the network involved in visual processing, explains Matthew Traxler, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis.

Can you read audible books instead of listening?

The feature will be on thousands of audiobooks at launch available to any Audible member. …

Is it better to read a book or ebook?

E-books help the visually impaired The study found that people with dyslexia read more effectively, and with greater ease, when using the e-reader compared with reading on paper.

Do you retain information from audiobooks?

Matt Davis from the University of Cambridge explains: “Anyone who finds reading difficult… might retain more from listening to an audiobook. The additional effort involved in reading the words uses mental resources that they would otherwise need for comprehension and memory.”

Are audio books cheating?

Reading and listening both result in comprehension, which the brain accomplishes by translating written or heard words into words in the mind — a process called decoding. So, in short, listening to audiobooks isn’t “cheating” as some die-hard readers might purport.

Is listening to a book considered reading?

Reading, as an evolutionary late-comer, must piggy-back on mental processes that already existed, and spoken communication does much of the lending. So according to the simple model, listening to an audio book is exactly like reading print, except that the latter requires decoding and the former doesn’t.

Does listening to a book count as reading?

Long before most of us were able to read, our families and teachers were reading stories to us. And in some cases, listening to audiobooks might even be better than reading the written word. Read on to learn why we think listening to audiobooks definitely counts as reading.

Is listening to an audiobook cheating?

For most books, for most purposes, listening and reading are more or less the same thing. So listening to an audiobook is not “cheating,” but let me tell you why I objected to phrasing the question that way. “Cheating” implies an unfair advantage, as though you are receiving a benefit while skirting some work.

Is it better to read or listen to an audiobook?

Listeners and readers retain about equal understanding of the passages they’ve consumed, in other words. Decoding, by contrast, is specific to reading, Willingham said; this is indeed one more step your mind has to take when reading a print book as compared to listening to the audiobook version.

Is listening to a book the same as reading it?

It’s better. But only in certain cases. A recent New York Times opinion piece by Daniel Willingham addressed the question of whether listening to a book is the same as reading it. Willingham, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, speaks with authority: He is a leading researcher of reading comprehension.

Do Audiobooks make you more engaged?

Audiobooks, on the other hand, make progress with or without your participation. You can tune out, your mind wandering around the subject at hand, and there will still be forward motion in the story. Willingham alludes to this point by saying that harder books—“difficult texts” as he calls them—require more engagement.