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Science
Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips
Research summary
Four experiments found that expecting future access reduced memory for information itself but improved memory for where it could be found, supporting a transactive-memory account of Internet use.
Evidence strengths
- Four experiments
- Direct tests of transactive memory
Limitations
- Laboratory tasks
- Early Internet-search context
Topics
- Memory
- Learning
- Human-AI Interaction
Connected claims
- Supports
Expected access to external digital information changes memory strategy, reducing memory for content while preserving where it can be found.
Participants remembered less content when future access was expected and remembered its location better.