Internet search engines cause poor memory, scientists claim
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Internet search engines cause poor memory, scientists claim
Widespread use of internet search engines and databases such as Google
and IMDb.com to find information is making people lose their memory,
scientists claim.
By Andrew Hough 9:00AM BST 15 Jul 2011
Researchers found increasing number of users relied on their computers
as a form of “external memory” as frequent use of online information
libraries "wired" human brains.
The study, examining the so-called "Google effect", found people had
poor recall of knowledge if they knew where answers to questions were
easily found.
The scientists from Columbia University, in New York, found people
were increasingly bypassing discussions with friends to use the
internet as their main source of information.
Experts blamed the findings, published online in this week in the
journal Science, on popular search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo
and databases such as Wikipedia and IMDb.com, the movie information
site founded in Britain.
Prof Betsy Sparrow, who led the study, said such web tools were
making information easy to forget and that if people could not find
answers immediately it could feel like "going through withdrawal".
“We are becoming symbiotic with our computer tools, growing into
interconnected systems,” said Prof Sparrow, from Columbia's psychology
department.
“We have become dependent on them to the same degree we are on all
the knowledge we gain from our friends and co-workers — and lose if
they are out of touch.
"Human memory is adapting to new communications technology."
She added: "We're not thoughtless empty-headed people who don't have
memories anymore. But we are becoming particularly adept at
remembering where to go find things. And that's kind of amazing."
Roddy Roediger, a psychologist at Washington University who was also
involved in the study, added: "Why remember something if I know I can
look it up again? In some sense, with Google and other search engines,
we can off-load some of our memory demands onto machines."
In the study, titled “Google Effects on Memory: Consequences of
having information at our Fingertips,” the researchers undertook four
experiments involving student volunteers.
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