NEWS: The internet has changed the way we think

by **Andeavor** Tue Jul 19, 2011 7:29 am

Computers and the internet are changing the nature of our memory, research in the journal Science suggests.

Psychology experiments showed that people presented with difficult questions began to think of computers.

When participants knew that facts would be available on a computer later, they had poor recall of answers but enhanced recall of where they were stored.

The researchers say the internet acts as a "transactive memory" that we depend upon to remember for us.

Lead author Betsy Sparrow of Columbia University said that transactive memory "is an idea that there are external memory sources - really storage places that exist in other people".

"There are people who are experts in certain things and we allow them to be, [to] make them responsible for certain kinds of information," she explained to BBC News.

Co-author of the paper Daniel Wegner, now at Harvard University, first proposed the transactive memory concept in a book chapter titled Cognitive Interdependence in Close Relationships, finding that long-term couples relied on each other to act as one another's memory banks.

"I really think the internet has become a form of this transactive memory, and I wanted to test it," said Dr Sparrow.

Where, not what
The first part of the team's research was to test whether subjects were "primed" to think about computers and the internet when presented with difficult questions. To do that, the team used what is known as a modified Stroop test.

The standard Stroop test measures how long it takes a participant to read a colour word when the word itself is a different colour - for example, the word "green" written in blue.

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I don't think Google is making us stupid - we're just changing the way that we're remembering things…”

Dr Betsy Sparrow
Columbia University
Reaction times increase when, instead of colour words, participants are asked to read words about topics they may already be thinking about.

In this way the team showed that, after presenting subjects with tough true/false questions, reaction times to internet-related terms were markedly longer, suggesting that when participants did not know the answer, they were already considering the idea of obtaining it using a computer.

A more telling experiment provided a stream of facts to participants, with half told to file them away in a number of "folders" on a computer, and half told that the facts would be erased.

When asked to remember the facts, those who knew the information would not be available later performed significantly better than those who filed the information away.

But those who expected the information would be available were remarkably good at remembering in which folder they had stored the information.

"This suggests that for the things we can find online, we tend keep it online as far as memory is concerned - we keep it externally stored," Dr Sparrow said.

She explained that the propensity of participants to remember the location of the information, rather than the information itself, is a sign that people are not becoming less able to remember things, but simply organising vast amounts of available information in a more accessible way.

"I don't think Google is making us stupid - we're just changing the way that we're remembering things... If you can find stuff online even while you're walking down the street these days, then the skill to have, the thing to remember, is where to go to find the information. It's just like it would be with people - the skill to have is to remember who to go see about [particular topics]."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14145045

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I have to admit, I google a lot when I try to solve a problem, but I blame the increase of information we get every year due to research as well as what we have at our disposal at any given time and the complexity of the problem itself, such as involving elements that are outside of someone's area of expertise.

I think that information technology has changed how humanity functions. We used to have nothing but our brains and the tools in our hands but due to research, education and advanced technology we are depending more and more on readily-available information rather than rethink the process ourselves.

It's like when you're playing an adventure game and you're stuck, it's easier to just look up the solution in a walkthrough rather than to break your head about it. However, the danger of relying completely on the walkthrough is high as it's already available to you. I have experienced this on my own; every time I found the solution without the walkthrough, I felt an iota smarter than before.

by **Arkanay** Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:52 am

I have thought about this often. I too use the internet when I need to know something and I think it's a great tool at the world's disposal.
Be careful, though - Not everything in the internet is actually true or has proper reliable sources. Not to mention its dark corners.

Humanity has indeed changed and will keep doing so. But people will always be different among themselves.

There's this guy I know who refuses to acquire a cellphone and while many of us might find that weird (or actually respect him for that), the truth is a couple of decades ago we hardly even dreamt of such devices.

It's a funny world. I hope it keeps spinning for a long time.

by **OneDeadSlime** Tue Jul 19, 2011 5:03 pm

It's true.

by **Vektrix** Tue Jul 19, 2011 5:35 pm

Ok here goes.

1) What were they expecting? An Evolutionary Theory tells us that animals adapt. Humans are animals and we have adapted to realise we no longer need to store as much data in our memories because of the internet.

2) I have seen several programmes about how humans will be storing their thoughts and memories on some sort of data chip. This idea is not exactly new, I've seen it in the Original Series of Star trek and of clips of Tomorrow's World from the 60's. The Computer used to take up a whole room - all ideas start big before they become small enough to be portable.

3) Of course the internet has changed the way we think, to think other wise is a ludicrous idea. All major inventions throughout history change the way we view the world and how we solve problems. When we mastered fire we no longer had to search for a warmer place to live. The invention of the wheel meant we no longer had to worry so much about moving heavy goods. The internet has done the same thing for knowledge.

I am not saying the internet is a good or bad thing, far from it, I am just saying the study seems to be rather poor in that it answers questions that history has already taught us.

by **Arkanay** Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:00 pm

Vektrix wrote:
2) I have seen several programmes about how humans will be storing their thoughts and memories on some sort of data chip. This idea is not exactly new, I've seen it in the Original Series of Star trek and of clips of Tomorrow's World from the 60's. The Computer used to take up a whole room - all ideas start big before they become small enough to be portable.

AKA a diary. Razz

by **Red-Indigo** Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:35 pm

Well, I agree with Vektrix that the study is a fairly poor one. It kind of jumps to conclusions. The bit about the information not being available again got me in paticular. They are using that example to justify that we rely on the internet, while the internet makes things easier to find out, I dont think this is a good example.

You can be told somthing, or read somthing and know its not going to be freely given again, therefore trying your hardest to remember. It applies to all situations and it's how your brain works, I think its a poor way to justify the theories they are putting foward.

In any case, though, it obviously has changed the way we think. It's natural progression. I don't think it's making us stupid or whatever as I still remember the facts I read online as I would have if I'd read them from a book. If anything it has the ability to make us more informed, there's so much out there that we wouldnt have been able to access before. This isnt always a good thing, but the web is what you make of it.

I think its done alot for how we think about social interactions too. Before the internet you would know most people down your road, not all extremley well, but you would know of them. Now there is the internet I also know people in a similar manner from all over the world. I think that has done alot to help the world be closer in a way and hopefully has changed the way we feel about and accept others. Obviously there are bad points to that too, but like I said, its what you make of it.

by **Andeavor** Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:39 pm

I think what they menat by "not available again" is that the information is out there and anytime accessible.

Imagine, back in the old days when there was little information or research available and only to those that not only had the education but knew where to get it had access, and if they didn't keep up with it they could easily forget that information, but not if they managed to memorize it.

Nowadays, all you have to do is go online from your laptop or smartphone and the tech does the memorizing for you.

by **Red-Indigo** Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:28 pm

Andeavor wrote:I think what they menat by "not available again" is that the information is out there and anytime accessible.

Imagine, back in the old days when there was little information or research available and only to those that not only had the education but knew where to get it had access, and if they didn't keep up with it they could easily forget that information, but not if they managed to memorize it.

Nowadays, all you have to do is go online from your laptop or smartphone and the tech does the memorizing for you.

Ah I took it that they were testing them on what they had been asked to remember and those who would have the information 'erased' remembered more efficently, as opposed to the others who remembered where the information was instead of what it was.

I understand what you are saying, but I still feel the comparisons they used were a little paralell. For example, then we would probably had the information transferred to a personal file and while that in itself was more intensive than typing in a search, it still lowered the need for remembering. If we can find a short cut we will use it and I don't think the internet/search engines are any different from a noble man having his clerk to write down what he needed. Its just a different media.

I think the main difference the study should have centered on was, as you highlighted, is the availability of information and how the internet helped to level the playing field a little on that one. The internet has opened knowledge up for everyone with access to a computer and this hopefully allows us to be more open to new information, the downside being, as I read had been mentioned earlier, we don't think the process through on how to obtain it or try to draw and prove conclusions for our selves. It's just there.

by **Andeavor** Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:05 am

Here's another experiment you can do yourself; how many phone numbers can you recall from the top of your head? Hunf

Your last paragraph is spot on. Information is universal, bypassing the learning process.

by **Vektrix** Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:51 am

Andeavor wrote:Here's another experiment you can do yourself; how many phone numbers can you recall from the top of your head?

Your last paragraph is spot on. Information is universal, bypassing the learning process.

I still remember numbers I have not dialed for 25 years. I actually know all the numbers I need to know without having to check my mobile either Surprised

Just a gift I suppose.

I think the internet is in danger of over-informing us, and confusing us. The internet is an easy and readily available place to dump data that is untrue, and spread is fact. The first thing many people do is go on Google or Wikipedia and take what they find as fact. Most of Wikipedia is unregulated, and most people (a study has suggested) will only look at the first five search results from any search engine. No guarantee that any of these sites is MIT, Oxford University, Natural History Museum or NASA - could just as easily be comic guy in his basement spouting twaddle.

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