I read an interesting article on the internet’s effects on our memory. Not surprising, really, but nice to see it looked at rather than just speculated upon. It turns out that people who know they can look something up when they need it tend to remember where to find it longer and more reliably than they remember the content. However, for the same information, if you think you won’t have access again to where you looked it up, you put more effort into remembering the content.
Before people my age decry this effect, they should remember the disdain of the ancient Greek poets for writing, which they were convinced would destroy people’s memories if they could simply go read a poem instead of having to have memorized it. They were right, of course, but I doubt too many people these days think it was such a bad trade-off…
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14145045