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Reading print ensures cognitive abilities

It is the year 2024: young people are reading more and more printed books. Likewise in 2024, according to a new media survey, 80 percent of resident dentists prefer journals in printed format for information – and see them as more credible than online content [1]. What does this mean for the quality of information in the era of ‘snackable’ content and AI?

Sales of specialist books focussing on oral medicine continue to soar. Not least for the extensively revised specialist books and journals published by the Quintessence Publishing Group. We still experience the same enjoyment from browsing well designed printed media in the same way that people did a hundred years ago, whether this is in short breaks at the surgery or at home on the sofa. Even though the time it takes to produce books means they may lag somewhat behind scientific progress, we still have an expectation that they will contain reliable, dependable and valuable information.

This preference for printed media is not simply based on convenience or habitualness: the ‘special quality of reading a book’ also promotes our perception and the way we process information [2]. The cognitive scientist Maryanne Wolf explains how this works: reading influences the way that we think – and, therefore, how we evaluate information [3]. Digital reading, on the other hand, reduces our ‘cognitive patience’ and ability to examine our prejudices, or even to see things from a different perspective [4].

Think, don’t snack

We all know that we can pile on the pounds from snacking. Snacks can be defined as frequent, often high calorie food, that we eat in between meals. As far as reading is concerned, ‘snacking’ can also possibly make you ‘dumb’. Reading texts on a screen means ‘higher fragmentation, less concentration’ as well as a more ‘superficial processing’ of the content. [5]. Furthermore: screens are far inferior to paper when it comes to understanding complex and far-reaching texts. [2]. This is certainly even more true when it comes to super-fast ‘bite sized’ social media formats.

What then is the best way to process and present specialist oral health knowledge? Unquestionably, carefully edited printed texts are the absolute gold standard for substance and rigorous content – and are crucial in regard to patient care. They are, moreover, the only way to establish and maintain a solid and well-founded level of knowledge. In general, specialist oral medicine also requires very high-quality visual images, which are frequently only possible using the most recent colour calibrated printing technology.

Substance in the Internet

Online information and social media have their own specific benefits, and therefore their own particular validity. Rapid orientation online, e. g. for news, supplier information and ‘chats’ on hot topics is certainly essential. It is also true to say that specialized content is best presented and archived online, e.g. clinical guidelines or extensive case documentation with supplementary material. Selected text material can be printed out for more in-depth reading – or alternatively, to add individual comments or highlight passages of the text in PDF format. Network-based congresses, professional training courses and instructive videos all represent enormous progress and ideally complement printed media and real-life-formats.

More about information procurement:

www.dental-journalist.com/en/quality-staying-on-the-ball-of-dental-progress.php

Independent Information

Relevant knowledge must be free from the influence of third parties, in particular from the influence of industry. Naturally, industry must and should be a participant in research and expertise, but only with full disclosure of conflicts of interest. At the same time, specialist media should always be in a position to publish independent content – despite increasing printing costs and constant dependency on advertising customers. Last but not least, all healthcare professionals should be prepared to pay for valuable independent information – in the interests of science-based medicine and patient care.

Is AI a Game Changer?

AI in medicine is an increasingly important topic, especially for imaging diagnostics. As far as journalism is concerned, there are already questions about whether computer-based algorithms will soon write specialized articles. Will the algorithms always be updated with the latest developments in medical and cognitive sciences? Are the days long gone when haptic/practice-oriented doctors had to struggle with literature reviews and writing long texts? It is now apparent that AI-based texts will take over a lot of this work and be immeasurably useful in publishing relevant information. However, responsibility for the finer medical points and stylistic details will always remain in the hands of the experts.

Conclusion

High quality specialized information is now firmly integrated in a complex interconnection of print and online, but also in oral communication. It is people who are at the heart of these interactions, with all their cultural, cognitive and emotional backgrounds and history. This will ultimately be to the benefit of patients who will be treated by well-trained and informed medical practitioners.

Dr. med.dent. Jan H. Koch

The author declares that he has no conflicts of interest at the time of publication of the above article (in particular, no business connections with Quintessence Publishing or AI companies).