Physical Books Boost Brain Efficiency in Manga Reading, New Study Shows

The investigation originated from a request by COAMIX Inc., a leading Japanese manga publisher, to determine whether paper books confer measurable cognitive benefits. Researchers at the University of Tokyo designed a neuroscientific experiment to compare reading on paper with reading on a tablet, publishing the results in *PLOS ONE* under the title “Manga reading on paper vs. digital devices: Prospective effects on core and supportive integration processes in the brain.”

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Twenty-five right-handed university students, native Japanese speakers, were randomly assigned to read the first half of a two-part manga story either in a physical book or on an electronic tablet of identical size and matched luminance. While reading, participants rated their empathy for the characters. After completing the first half, they entered an MRI scanner, read the second half, and answered multiple-choice questions. Question sets differed: one required recall of the first half only; the other demanded integration of details from both halves.

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Accuracy on both question sets was comparable across formats, but response times for the integrative (set 2) questions were significantly longer for tablet readers. Functional MRI revealed that paper readers exhibited reduced activation in the left lateral premotor cortex and inferior frontal gyrus during the second half, indicating lower linguistic and narrative-integration effort. Tablet readers showed heightened activity in these left-hemisphere regions and additional recruitment of right frontal areas and the right angular gyrus, which are associated with supportive processing and spatial reconstruction of visual panels. The magnitude of right-frontal activation correlated with tablet readers’ answer accuracy, suggesting compensatory neural effort.

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The findings suggest that the tactile and spatial cues provided by physical pages create stable “story schemas,” allowing the brain to allocate fewer resources when integrating subsequent narrative information. This has potential implications for educational strategies, publishing decisions, and the design of digital reading interfaces that aim to emulate the anchoring benefits of paper.

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• Researchers led by Professor Kuniyoshi L. Sakai emphasized that the study provides the first immediate neural evidence of paper’s effect on reading efficiency.

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• COAMIX Inc.’s inquiry prompted the research, reflecting industry interest in the cognitive value of print media.

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• The authors—Keita Umejima, Yuki Sunada, and Sakai—concluded that while digital formats achieve comparable accuracy, they demand greater cognitive load.

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The experiment was limited to visual narratives (manga) and a homogeneous sample of Japanese university students, restricting generalizability to plain-text novels or broader populations. Differences in illumination (reflected light vs. backlight) and the slightly slower page-turning rhythm of paper may also have contributed to the observed effects. Long-term retention and learning outcomes were not assessed.

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No contradictory data were presented in the sources. Notable gaps include the absence of diverse age groups, other digital devices (e-readers, smartphones), and longitudinal measurements of memory consolidation.

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• “This research project began with an inquiry from COAMIX INC., one of the major publishers of Japanese manga, whether we could investigate any values of paper books scientifically,” — Kuniyoshi L. Sakai, Professor, University of Tokyo

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• “When comparing a paper book and an electronic tablet, we cannot bring the latter device into the scanning room, because the scanner is a huge magnet,” — Kuniyoshi L. Sakai

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• “We found that both left and right hemispheres, which work during reading mostly for proper linguistic functions and supportive roles, respectively, are less engaged when manga contents are well understood through reading on paper, compared with digital reading,” — Kuniyoshi L. Sakai

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• “This neuroscientific result is the first to show such an immediate effect of reading on paper, which would eventually change your brain.” — Kuniyoshi L. Sakai

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• “The same results would be obtained for reading a novel or other conventional texts, because story lines and contextual flow are basically the same among them,” — Kuniyoshi L. Sakai

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• “Using a similar method, we are now examining any effects of writing with a pen or a keyboard,” — Kuniyoshi L. Sakai

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Future work will extend the paradigm to compare pen-based writing with keyboard input, explore other media formats, and assess long-term learning outcomes across diverse demographic groups.

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