A study from Matthias Schlesewsky at Johannes Gutenberg University found that readers older than 60 benefit markedly from the backlit screen of many ereader tablets despite their perceived dislike of the platform.
While younger folks exhibited no difference in reading on multiple devices, seniors were able to concentrate more completely using a tablet computer.
The researchers found that younger readers between the ages of 21 and 34 showed similar eye movements and EEG measures of brain activity across the three reading devices. Older adults aged 60-77 years spent less time fixating the text and showed lower brain activity when using a tablet computer, as compared to the other media. The study concludes that this effect is likely due to better text discrimination on the backlit displays.
This is obviously a bit of a blip – you’re not going to change grandpa’s mind if he loves to lug around his copy of Team Of Rivals all day – but it’s interesting to note that the e-reader market is far larger than we assume it is as Baby Boomers start thinking harder about how they read.
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