Memory

Learning how to use our extended minds

“Prospective memory”—the ability to remember to act on our intentions—declines with age. But older people can perform on a par with younger ones when they use their extended minds: that is, when they rely on the external environment to provide cues and reminders. This process is known as “cognitive offloading.” It involves moving the intentions

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Guess before you Google

It’s often been noted that search engines and other technological tools act as a kind of “external memory”— they “remember” facts so that we don’t have to. But, write a group of UCLA researchers in a recent paper, “some cognitive costs may arise from our reliance on such external memories.” In particular, the frictionless nature

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