University of Waterloo, Canada.
University of Waterloo, Canada.
Cognition. 2019 Oct;191:103954. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.04.023. Epub 2019 Jul 20.
We often offload memory demands onto external artefacts (e.g., smartphones). While this practice allows us to subvert the limitations of our biological memory, storing memories externally exposes them to manipulation. To examine the impact of such manipulation, we report three experiments, two of which were pre-registered. Individuals performed a memory task where they could offload to-be-recalled information to an external store and on a critical trial, we surreptitiously manipulated the information in that store. Results demonstrated that individuals rarely noticed this manipulation. In addition, when individuals had information inserted into their external memory stores, they often encoded it into their biological memory, thereby leading to the creation of a false memory. The reported results highlight one of the cognitive consequences of offloading our memory to external artefacts.
我们经常将记忆需求转嫁给外部人工制品（例如智能手机）。虽然这种做法使我们能够颠覆生物记忆的局限性，但将记忆存储在外部会使它们容易受到操纵。为了检验这种操纵的影响，我们报告了三项实验，其中两项是预先注册的。参与者执行一项记忆任务，他们可以将待回忆的信息转储到外部存储中，在关键试验中，我们秘密地操纵了该存储中的信息。结果表明，参与者很少注意到这种操纵。此外，当参与者的外部记忆存储中插入信息时，他们经常将其编码到生物记忆中，从而导致虚假记忆的产生。报告的结果突出了将记忆转储到外部人工制品的认知后果之一。
