Readers using electronic books are less likely to absorb what they have read because the information is presented in such simple form. Devices such as the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader display text in such a clear, legible format that this encourages the brain to be ‘lazy’, making it more difficult to take things on board, research suggests. The findings go against the conventional wisdom that legibility makes it easier for people to learn and remember information.

A study by Princeton University found that a significant number of those tested could recall more information when it was presented in unusual typefaces. The research suggests that introducing 'disfluency' - by making information superficially harder to understand - deepens the process of learning and encourages better retention. The psychologists said information which has to be actively generated rather than 'passively acquired' from simple text is remembered longer and more accurately.

It has been argued that e-readers and computers hinder us from absorbing information because their screens and fonts tell our subconscious that they words they convey are not important. Mr Lehrer said the study showed the whole history of typography was had missed the point when it comes to learning. He said: 'It has been a movement towards easy to read fonts. We assume that anything which makes it easier to see the content is a good thing. 'When we see a font that is easy to read we're able to process that in a mindless way, but when we see an unfamiliar font, one full of weird squiggles, we have to work a little bit harder.'That extra effort is a signal to the brain that this might be something worth remembering.'