Brian Chen, the author of an upcoming book called Always On, which makes inferences into the always-connected mobile future, recently published an article called “Will the iPad Make You Smarter?” on Wired.com’s Gadget Lab. The article touches upon the new style of user interfaces that mobile gadgets like Apple’s iPad are beginning to move towards, and how these may better suit the way our minds were meant to work. In it, he cites research that may suggest that the user interface that people interact with can significantly affect our ability to focus and learn.

Chen suggests that single-screen interfaces like the one on the iPad and the Google Android OS allow for a deeper and more natural way of learning. Although there have not yet been studies done specifically on the iPad yet, Chen refers to the research done by Muhammet Demirbilek on the effects of computer interfaces on learning.

In 2004, Demirbilek, an assistant professor of educational technology at Suleyman Demirel University, conducted an experiment at the University of Florida that compared a tiled-windows interface, and an overlapping-windows interface.

He was able to conclude that “Students using the tiled-windows interface were able to learn considerably better than those working with overlapping windows.” They were, “able to find specific information more easily and engage with it more deeply.”

From here, Chen and Demirbliek both inferred that iPad-style user interfaces can help to improve orientation and learning. Soon, other tablets and mobile devices will catch on to the trend of single-screen user interfaces and, in turn, web developers will design more websites that cater to this style of browsing, which is less cluttered, uses bigger icons, and is more focused on the information being provided.

Although I don’t think the iPad can yet be considered as a laptop killer, it does provide a completely different experience for interacting with information on the Internet. I would compare it to an image-based ad versus a copy-heavy ad. They both ultimately have the same goal but each serves a different purpose. One is more focused while the other gives a more comprehensive view.