A recent research conducted by psychologist Betsy Sparrow from Columbia University has found that the enormous growth of the internet in general and search engines in particular, had changed the way people are recollecting and memorizing information!

According to the research, because we are so certain we can found specific pieces of information on the web, our memory basically counts on it and “prioritize” it after things that we think might be hard to find online. In fact, in our technological era, it sounds very logical…

Also, the research concluded that we tend to remember more the resources of the information more than we remember the information itself!

The Research Four Chapters With Conclusions:

First
Questions were presented to the participants in 2 groups of colors- One, in regular black and other group in search engines related colors (blue, red). The response to the search engines related colors group was better.

Conclusion: When the brain is connecting the information to search engines, it easier for it to find the answers.

Second + Third
The participants was told to remember sentences. To one group of people it has been told that the sentences will be accessible later, and to another group it has been told that it will be erased completely. The group that has been told it will be erased, had better recollection of the sentences.
This had been tested once again but with 3 groups instead of 2- the information will be accessible in general, in a specific location and erased completely. The results were similar- people who thought that the information had been erased had a better recollection of it.

Conclusion: When people think that some information is available online, they “bother” less to remember it.

Fourth
The participants was told to remember sentences and remember where they are located within 5 folders. The results were the participants managed to remember better the folders names than the sentences.

Conclusion: People remember more where information is located than the information itself.

What It Means For Your Work From Home?

This research emphasis the fact that people rely today more than ever on search engines which reflects on how we even memorize stuff. This proves the giant business potential the internet and (ranking high in) search engines has.

The other thing i take from this research is the significance of strengthening our brand. People remember the brands more than the information in it!

One last thing, the research only discussed about search engines and didn’t consider another great online trend that affects tremendously our lives- Social networks. I hope to find an interesting study that take that also under its consideration…

Here is an interview with Betsy Sparrow discusses her research: