Sparrow et al (2011)

Aim

To investigate the relationship between memory, technology and the “Google Effect”

Transactive memory

Wegner et al suggested a type of memory that existed through a collective group of individuals who all relied on each other to retrieve memories. Transactive memory systems include the memory of where the information is (who) and the best way of retrieving it. Transactive memory relies on the help of the group.

Procedure

• 60 undergraduate students at U of Harvard (37 f, 23 m)

• Given 40 trivia questions ranging from obscure facts to facts assumed to be well known

• Experiment was a 2 x 2 independent sample design meaning that there were two independent variables manipulated at different levels

• The two independent variables were:

  • Participants were told that their information would be saved after pressing space and would be accessed later or, the participants were told that their info would be erased after pressing space to make room for a new answer.

  • Participants were split into two groups: those told to remember the information and those who weren't told

• Participants were then given a blank sheet of paper and 10 minutes to recall everything they remembered

• They were then given a recognition task where there were 40 statements where they had to answer yes/no to if they were different from the original 40 trivia facts

Results

• Percent of participants:

  • Participants told save + remember: 19%

  • Participants told save + no remember: 22%

  • Participants told erase + remember: 29%

  • Participants told erase + no remember: 31%

• There was no effect of whether or not the participants were told/not told to remember

• Participants who were told that they would have their data saved recalled far better than the participants who were told they would have access later

Conclusion

“Google Effect” casused digital amnesia (reliance on outsourcing information to technology), thus leading to negative impact on memory

Strengths

1. Lab experiment - highly controlled; means more accurate results

2. Easy to replicate

3. Experiment was one of the first of its kind, showed valid evidence of digital technologies affect on cognitive processes

Weaknesses

1. Low ecological validity (lab experiment) - not common for people to learn unimportant trivia facts with low stakes overall

2. Demand characteristics (lab experiment) - possible that participants caught on to the aim of the experiment and purposely tried harder to remember/forget to manipulate the results

3. Participant variability - all participants around the same age and attend Harvard: this does not represent the general population

4. Extraneous variable - no way of controlling whether or not the participant had known the purposely chosen 'obscure' facts before; or had not known the 'obvious' facts