According to a recent study, the widespread use of search engines and online databases has affected the way people remember information. Researchers wondered whether people were more likely to remember information that could be easily retrieved from a computer, just as students are more likely to recall facts they believe will be on a test. They staged four different memory experiments. In one, participants typed 40 bits of trivia — for example, “an ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain” — into a computer. Half of the subjects believed the information would be saved in the computer; the other half believed the items they typed would be erased. 
The subjects were significantly more likely to remember information when they thought they would not be able to find it later. Participants did not make the effort to remember when they thought they could later look up the trivia statement they had read, according to the study’s authors. A second experiment was aimed at determining whether computer accessibility affects precisely what we remember. For example, If asked the question whether there are any countries with only one color in their flag, do we think about flags — or immediately think to go online to find out? In this case, participants were asked to remember both the trivia statement itself and which of five computer folders it was saved in. The researchers were surprised to find that people seemed better able to recall the folder. The experiment explores an aspect of what is known as transactive memory — the notion that we rely on our family, friends, and co-workers as well as reference material to store information for us. The researchers conclude that these experiments indicate the Internet has become our primary external storage system, that human memory is adapting to new communications technology. For better or worse…
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