External Memory (psychology)
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External memory is memory that uses cues from the environment to aid remembrance of ideas and sensations. When a person uses something beside one's own internal memory tricks, traits, or talents to help them remember certain events, facts, or even things to do, they are using an external memory aid. External memory aids are used every day. A large part of these aids come from
technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
; people use their
smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
s to remind them when they have meetings and
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
reminds people of their friends' birthdays. These aids also include taking notes in class, carrying a grocery list to the supermarket, or jotting down dates on a planner. Even people, or prompters, can be used as external memory aids.


Oral tradition and the externalization of memory

In Plato's ''Phaedrus'', Socrates tells the story of how Theuth, the Egyptian god and inventor of writing, approached the king of Egypt,
Themis In Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Themis (; grc, Θέμις, Themis, justice, law, custom) is one of the twelve Titans, Titan children of Gaia and Uranus (mythology), Uranus, and the second wife of Zeus. She is the godde ...
, in order to offer the Egyptian people what he regarded as a branch of learning that would improve memory. Themis, however, was wary of the implications the written word would have on memory. He believed that, if the Egyptian people were to take up writing, their reliance on their internal memory would decrease in exchange for external memory. He was of the opinion that writing was a "recipe not for memory, but for reminding" and the person relying on the written word would only give off the illusion of a person possessing knowledge. "
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...
's teachings were passed down in an unbroken chain of
oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985 ...
for four centuries until they were committed to writing in Sri Lanka in the first century BC." In 1920,
Milman Parry Milman Parry (June 23, 1902 – December 3, 1935) was an American Classicist whose theories on the origin of Homer's works have revolutionized Homeric studies to such a fundamental degree that he has been described as the "Charles Darwin, Darw ...
, in his master's thesis, discovered that the stylistic quirks and bizarre repetition found in the ''
Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...
'' and the ''
Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...
'' were evidence of the works' oral transmission. The use of "clever Odysseus" and "swift-footed Achilles" is this evidence. Walter Ong, priest, philosopher, and English professor, has found that people remember best when things are rhythmic and repeated.Walter J. Ong., ''Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word.'' London: Methuen, 1982 This repetition is in use in many fairy tales. The use of the "brave prince" and the "beautiful princess" time and time again was necessary to keep the oral tradition alive. By fifth century BC, many texts had been committed to paper, scrolls as long as 60 feet to be more precise. At this time, written works were meant to be external memory aids. These written works were also written in ''
scriptio continua ''Scriptio continua'' (Latin for "continuous script"), also known as ''scriptura continua'' or ''scripta continua'', is a style of writing without spaces or other marks between the words or sentences. The form also lacks punctuation, diacritic ...
;'' words were connected without spaces and sentences were connected without punctuation, making it difficult for the reader to read the words without reading them aloud. It is because of ''scriptio continua'' that most reading in the Middle Ages was done aloud and often with an audience. Also for this reason, those who read had to memorize the text in part before reading it to audiences because they had to remember where one word began and another ended and when to pause. It was not until the ninth century that spacing and
punctuation Punctuation (or sometimes interpunction) is the use of spacing, conventional signs (called punctuation marks), and certain typographical devices as aids to the understanding and correct reading of written text, whether read silently or aloud. An ...
came to be. The reading and memory dynamic was very different. Books were a rare commodity; simply having access to a book one day did not imply access to it the next. Also at this point in time, books were not bound with outward facing spines; they were quite heavy, and lacked indexes. Even if one did have access to a book, it was unlikely that he/she would be able to find what he/she was looking for without having read and even become familiar with the book from top to bottom. In this point in time, external memory and internal memory blended together. Manuscripts were copied in order for the copier to memorize them. Instruction manuals, external memory aids, by Romans like
Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
and
Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilia ...
also existed in order to teach readers how to use internal memory aids. Although, Quintilian agreed with Socrates' views on writing in Plato's ''Phaedrus'.'' "In the fifteenth century,
Gutenberg Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (; – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and craftsman who introduced letterpress printing to Europe with his movable-type printing press. Though not the first of its kind, earlier designs w ...
came along and turned books into mass produced commodities, and eventually it was no longer all that important to remember what the printed page could remember for you". As books became easier to consult, it became less relevant to commit them to memory. It is argued that modern day society has almost completely replaced internal memory with external memory. "The externalization of memory not only changed how people think; it also led to a profound shift in the very notion of what it means to be intelligent. Internal memory became devalued. Erudition evolved from possessing information internally to knowing how and where to find it in the labyrinthine world of external memory." By January 1980, as evidenced by two interview studies conducted by John E. Harris, external memory aids were said to be used more often than internal memory aids. Subjects in both studies were asked what memory aids they used and to rate how often they used them. The studies set out to compare the reported frequencies of external memory aids (such as the ones listed below) with internal memory aids (see
mnemonic A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding. Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imag ...
s or the
method of loci The method of loci is a strategy for memory enhancement, which uses visualizations of familiar spatial environments in order to enhance the recall of information. The method of loci is also known as the memory journey, memory palace, journey m ...
). Both studies consisted of 30 participants. In the first study, all 30 participants were university students (15 male and 15 female). In the second, the participants were 30 adult women. Both studies yielded the same result: external memory aids are used more frequently than internal memory aids.


Non-electronic external memory aids

External memory aids came to be through Theuth's invention of writing and other advances such as the Gutenberg Press. An external memory aid can be a post it note reminding one to do laundry or a grocery list reminding one to buy detergent. Other examples include: *
Checklist A checklist is a type of job aid used in repetitive tasks to reduce failure by compensating for potential limits of human memory and attention. It helps to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task. A basic example is the " to d ...
: used to record lists for items (e.g., shopping list) and/or steps for specific routines (e.g., laundry routine, homework routine) *
Wall calendar A calendar is used to display dates and related information, usually in a table format. Calendars are used to plan future events and keep track of appointments, and so a typical calendar will include days of the week, week numbering, months, publ ...
or pocket calendar: used to record/check appointments and events (e.g., doctor’s appointments, birthdays) *
Notebook A notebook (also known as a notepad, writing pad, drawing pad, or legal pad) is a book or stack of paper pages that are often ruled and used for purposes such as note-taking, journaling or other writing, drawing, or scrapbooking. History ...
s/daily planner: used to record/check information across several categories (e.g., calendars, contact information, expenses) *
Timer A timer is a specialized type of clock used for measuring specific time intervals. Timers can be categorized into two main types. The word "timer" is usually reserved for devices that counts down from a specified time interval, while devices th ...
: used to monitor time during specific activities (e.g., homework, cooking task) * Medication boxes: used to organize medications by day and time


Collective memory/transactive memory

Other individuals may also be used as external memory aids. Before the development of technology, individuals still had access to
collective memory Collective memory refers to the shared pool of memories, knowledge and information of a social group that is significantly associated with the group's identity. The English phrase "collective memory" and the equivalent French phrase "la mémoire c ...
. First referred to as transactive memory by
Daniel Wegner Daniel Merton Wegner (June 28, 1948 – July 5, 2013) was an American social psychologist. He was a professor of psychology at Harvard University and a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy ...
, the idea is (basically): An individual may know things that other people do not know while other people know things that that individual does not. Together, individuals know more than apart. "In any long-term relationship, a team work environment, or other ongoing group, people typically develop a group or transactive memory, a combination of memory stores held directly by individuals and the memory stores they can access because they know someone who knows that information. Like linked computers that can address each other’s memories, people in dyads or groups form transactive memory systems."


Electronic external memory aids

Examples of electronic external memory aids: *
Digital voice recorder A dictation machine is a sound recording device most commonly used to record Speech communication, speech for playback or to be typed into print. It includes digital voice recorders and tape recorder. The name "Dictaphone" is a trademark of the ...
: a device used to record information "in the moment" for later recall. Example: Olympus Voice recorder * Programmable watch: a wristwatch used for alarms/reminders to help recall important activities/events. Example:
Timex DataLink Timex Datalink or Timex Data Link is a line of early smartwatches manufactured by Timex and is considered a wristwatch computer. It is the first watch capable of downloading information wirelessly from a computer. As the name implies, datalink wa ...
*
PDA PDA may refer to: Science and technology * Patron-driven acquisition, a mechanism for libraries to purchase books *Personal digital assistant, a mobile device * Photodiode array, a type of detector * Polydiacetylenes, a family of conducting poly ...
(personal digital assistant): a "pocket computer" with several features including: alarms, calendar, contact information, internet, e-mail, and music. Example:
iPod Touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a music pl ...
*
Cell phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
: a mobile phone that includes contact information; several models include alarm/calendar programs, and camera. Example:
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
,
Jitterbug Jitterbug is a generalized term used to describe swing dancing. It is often synonymous with the lindy hop dance but might include elements of the jive, east coast swing, collegiate shag, charleston, balboa and other swing dances. Swing dan ...
* Smartphone: a device that combines a full-featured mobile phone with handheld computer functions as well as GPS (global positioning system). Example: iPhone,
BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...


The Google effect

What Socrates and Quintilian feared is still debated in modern-day society. Thanks to the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
and common search engines like
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
, often referred to as humankind's collective memory, remembering seems to be less important than it once was. With the right search cues and the click of a button, any person can find almost any piece of information. The Google effect, also called digital amnesia, refers to the tendency to forget information that can be found readily online by using Internet search engines such as Google. Betsy Sparrow (Columbia), Jenny Liu (Wisconsin) and Daniel M. Wegner (Harvard) described the Google effect in July 2011 after having conducted four experiments. They found that the participants thought about search engines when searching for information. Perhaps, the most important finding from their studies suggests that individuals have a tendency to forget information that they believe will be readily available to them in the future. In other words, why remember certain information if it is easily assemble through the use of an on-hand electronic device? Fortunately, their studies also claimed that people's ability to learn information offline remains the same.


Effect of external memory aids on ability to remember

Almost from the first examples of external memory, the practice has been the subject of much criticism. Detractors of externalized memory assert that recording events and information externally is causing the internal human memory to degrade. In Plato's Phaedrus, Socrates said of writing that it would "implant forgetfulness in en'ssouls". Concerns along these lines were expressed by many throughout history, and at every stage of development. Today this belief is more prevalent than ever, but it focuses mostly on electronic examples of externalities memory. The Google effect, as described above, is a primary example of these concerns. Much of the criticism about external memory is a product of common misconceptions about memory; specifically, the fact that people are very poor judges of it. Most people believe that they remember far more than they actually do in practice.Zhang, T., Kim, T., Brooks, A. W., Gino, F., & Norton, M. (n.d.). A "present" for the future: The unexpected value of rediscovery. PsycEXTRA Dataset. This is especially true of verbatim memory: generally, a person will recall the general ideas of a text or conversation rather than the exact words that were used. Even so, most people believe that they can recall conversations word-for-word. Because we cannot know what we do not know, people tend to have an inflated view of how well the human mind can remember. As such, it is not surprising that the importance of external memory aids is often underestimated, and that the belief in its purported negative effects is so widespread. While the idea that externalized memory degrades the innate capacity of humans to remember is prevalent, it is also unsubstantiated. Scientific investigations have failed to demonstrate any connection between technology usage and impaired memory. In addition, studies have concluded that the remarkable verbatim memories held up as the ideal by those who criticize the modern memory are not, in fact, verbatim. Instead, each retelling in oral tradition is a reconstruction of a story using given structural principles, allowing for a great deal of variation over time. Easy access to external sources of information may cause specific information to be remembered less thoroughly, but the overall memory capacity is undiminished. In fact, external memory aids can assist internal memory by providing retrieval cues that allow access to otherwise inaccessible memories.


Human transience

The externalization of memory calls into question humankind's transience. "If memory is our means of preserving that which we consider most valuable, it is also painfully linked to our own transience. When we die, our memories die with us. In a sense, the elaborate system of externalized memory we’ve created is a way of fending off mortality. It allows ideas to be efficiently passed across time and space, and for one idea to build on another to a degree not possible when a thought has to be passed from brain to brain in order to be sustained."


Lifelogging

There are extreme uses of external memory aids. Individuals who constantly record their lives are referred to as
lifelog A lifelog is a personal record of one's daily life in a varying amount of detail, for a variety of purposes. The record contains a comprehensive dataset of a human's activities. The data could be used to increase knowledge about how people liv ...
gers.
Gordon Bell Chester Gordon Bell (born August 19, 1934) is an American electrical engineer and manager. An early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) 1960–1966, Bell designed several of their PDP machines and later became Vice President of Engi ...
is an American engineer and manager at Microsoft, but of interest here is his lifelogging. In a fight against natural memory deterioration, Gordon Bell has kept a digital "surrogate memory" to supplement his own memory. "Why should any memory fade when there are technological solutions that can preserve it?" His version of lifelogging includes wearing a SenseCam around his neck that captures everything he sees on a daily basis. He also wears a digital voice recorder to capture the sound he hears. Bell also scans what he reads onto his computer and records his phone calls. He has digitized all of his photos, engineer notebooks, even logos on T-shirts. At any given moment, with the help of his custom developed search engine, Bell has access to anything he has seen, heard, or read in the past decade. Morris Villarroel, a professor of animal behavior at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, is another lifelogger. His version of lifelong includes a
Narrative Clip The Narrative Clip is a small wearable lifelogging camera. Its development began in 2012 by the Swedish company Memoto after a successful crowd funding via Kickstarter. It can automatically take a picture every 30 seconds whilst being worn throug ...
camera strapped to his chest that shoots about 1,200 photos per day at 30-second intervals. When asked about why he lifelogs, Villaroel responds, "It's nice for me that I have a whole series of photos, moments, that I can look back on, and maybe even share in the future. For example, I have a son who is 11 months old, and he has pictures of his mother, pregnant with him, hundreds of photos of himself the day he was born, and every day thereafter. I imagine him growing old, being 80 and deciding one day to look at a photo of how his mother looked when she was eight months pregnant, what we were doing when he was 120 days old, and how our life was. That motivates me to continue for a long time."


See also

*
Intelligence amplification Intelligence amplification (IA) (also referred to as cognitive augmentation, machine augmented intelligence and enhanced intelligence) refers to the effective use of information technology in augmenting human intelligence. The idea was first pro ...
*
Memex Memex is a hypothetical electromechanical device for interacting with microform documents and described in Vannevar Bush's 1945 article "As We May Think". Bush envisioned the memex as a device in which individuals would compress and store all of ...
For the use of the term 'external memory' in computing instead of psychology, see: *
Auxiliary memory Computer data storage is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media that are used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers. The central processing unit (CPU) of a computer ...
*
External storage In computing, external storage refers to non-volatile (secondary) data storage outside a computer's own internal hardware, and thus can be readily disconnected and accessed elsewhere. Such storage devices may refer to removable media (e.g. p ...
* ''
The Extended Mind In philosophy of mind, the extended mind thesis (EMT) says that the mind does not exclusively reside in the brain or even the body, but extends into the physical world. The EMT proposes that some objects in the external environment can be part of ...
'' *
National memory National memory is a form of collective memory defined by shared experiences and culture. It is an integral part to national identity. It represents one specific form of cultural memory, which makes an essential contribution to national group coh ...


References

{{reflist Memory Collective intelligence