Googling Up A Verdict

fig 1. A chart showing results of the experiment for the proportion of facts recalled. The red bar on the right represents the largest group of participants, who remember nothing.

Why bother remembering anything when you can just look it up later? That seems to be a common belief based on a recently published study from researchers at Harvard and Columbia Universities. They postulate that the internet with all its googling and searching had changed the way people remember information. The research was done to test a phenomenon known as transactive memory, where people outsource some memory functions to machines, the environment, or groups. When assured that information currently being presented will be saved somewhere, most participants remember nothing, or only partial aspects of the information.

The study consisted of several experiments that repeatedly tested recall among participants who were sometimes told that the information being presented would be permanently saved, and sometimes told the experience was fleeting. In every case, simply the knowledge that something was going to be available later caused the participants to tune-out and stop actively trying to remember. In cases where participants were told that information would be available later, they were sometimes able to remember either the information, or where it was saved, but not both.

In the courtroom, evidence is presented quickly and without much repetition. Juries are often reminded, however, that the exhibits will be available for their perusal later. Could the knowledge that evidence will be available later cause juries to stop paying attention to the presentation of the facts at hand? The results of this study seem to suggest so.

For more information:

Wikkipedia article on transactive memory:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transactive_memory

Link to the abstract
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1207745

Ars Technica article on the subject:

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/07/study-why-bother-to-remember-when-you-can-just-use-google.ars