Internet search engines cause poor memory, says report

Monday, 18 July 2011, 16:04 IST   |    2 Comments
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Another experiment involved 28 undergraduates from Columbia who were asked trivia questions. They were allowed to take notes and the researchers found they too struggled to remember information that would be saved.Finally, a further 34 Columbia students remembered where they stored their information in folders on their computers better than they were able to recall the information itself. Prof Sparrow admitted it remained unclear what the effects of being so "wired" will be on people over the coming years. She said the Internet had replaced a person's circle of friends where people would traditionally look for information. "(They) did not make the effort to remember when they thought they could later look up the trivia statement they had read. It may be no more than nostalgia at this point, however, to wish we were less dependent on our gadgets. "(It shows) we must remain plugged in to know what Google knows," she added.
Source: PTI