Technology and Memory

Theory of cognitive offloading

The practice of using external tools, such as technology or aids, to reduce the cognitive demands on memory and information processing, thereby enhancing efficiency in tasks

Sparrow et al

A: how technology can lead to cognitive offloading of factual information

P: asked to type 40 trivia facts into a computer/randomly assigned to two groups/1. told that the computer would store everything they typed for future reference 2. told that the information would be erased/randomly divided into two subgroups/ 1. told to remember the facts 2. not told to remember

F: participants told that computer would erase information remember around 30% of facts compared to participants told that the computer would store the information who remembered 20%/asking participants to remember the facts had no effect on memory

C: when people expect that information will be stored electronically, they make less effort to remember it/when they asked asked to remember something, they won’t bother if they know it will be electronically stored

Evaluate Sparrow et al

• Supports cognitive offloading theory

• Well controlled laboratory experiment: demonstrated a casual relationship between whether participants expected the computer to store the information and the rate of recall

• Demand characteristics

Henkell

A: how taking photographs affects memory

P: university students/guided tour of art museum/observe 15 objects and photograph 15 other objects/second variation told to zoom in to focus on interesting details as they photographed 15 objects/next day, participants were tested on whether they remembered the objects and specific details

F: participants who took photographs had a reduced memory compared to objects they observed/paritipants who were asked to zoom in and focus on details remembered well

C: suggests that how people take photographs determines the effect on memory/supports theory of cognitive offloading/taking a photo triggered participant to forget the object since it has already be saved/zoom in findings suggest that taking photos can enhance memory when participants engage in additional cognitive processes

Evaluate Henkell

• Within subject experimental design: allows for cause and effect relationship to be established between taking a photo vs simply observing and the memory of the object

• High ecological validity

• Only university students: low generalisability