Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Access to the internet is changing what we remember

A new study in Science Magazine by Drs. Sparrow, Liu, and Wegner (vol 333: 776, Aug 2011), demonstrates that we are using the internet as an external memory source to provide access to all the information we want to retain. All we have to do is remember how we found it.

Their data show that if we know we can just search for info again, we remember the website where we found the answer. Likewise, if we download the data, we recall the folder where it is stored. In either case, we are not as likely to remember the data itself. However, if we think the information is erased, our own recall of the information is pretty accurate. This study indicates that we are increasingly relying on having constant access as an external memory source (the internet). We just have to remember how we got there to find it!

n3scicom.com

No comments: