There's research[1] suggesting readers of physical books have greater reading comprehension than readers of eBooks. Anecdotally, I feel that describes me well.

[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/well-read/202402/the...

That we index information related to physical pagination is very plausible to me. Maybe an analogy would be to having to listen to full albums by flipping a record or cassette instead of listening to tracks on a streaming music playlist.

I do find that I read faster on an e-reader.

I think my only contradictory point would be: what is the aesthetic value of indexing information or reading more immersively? Surely there is one, but there may be a qualitatively different value in reading quickly but exposing oneself to more text. For example, I read the entirety of William Gibson's works last year. They went by in a blur, but I did find the speed of encountering his ideas through his novels ironically fitting for his subject matter.

I experience the same, I feel like it has something to do with the content of a book having a permanent spatial configuration.