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Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips — Science

Revision c1efc499-aaff-41c6-a441-36a04b75b34f · 5/22/2026, 2:37:31 AM UTC
Key
sparrow-liu-wegner-2011-google-effects
Authors
Sparrow, Betsy; Liu, Jenny; Wegner, Daniel M.
Issued
2011-8-5
Type
article-journal
Container
Science
Volume
333
Issue
6043
Pages
776-778
Raw CSL JSON
{
  "DOI": "10.1126/science.1207745",
  "URL": "https://dtg.sites.fas.harvard.edu/DANWEGNER/pub/Sparrow%20et%20al.%202011.pdf",
  "page": "776-778",
  "type": "article-journal",
  "issue": "6043",
  "title": "Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips",
  "author": [
    {
      "given": "Betsy",
      "family": "Sparrow"
    },
    {
      "given": "Jenny",
      "family": "Liu"
    },
    {
      "given": "Daniel M.",
      "family": "Wegner"
    }
  ],
  "issued": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2011,
        8,
        5
      ]
    ]
  },
  "volume": "333",
  "container-title": "Science"
}

Claims

  1. In a between-subjects experiment, participants who believed that statements they typed into a computer would be saved had significantly lower recall of those statements than participants who believed they would be erased; the effect of an explicit instruction to remember was not significant.
    "A between-subjects 2 (saved or erased) by 2 (explicit memory instructions versus none) ANOVA revealed a significant main effect for only the saved/erased manipulation, as those who believed that the computer erased what they typed had the best recall, omnibus F(3, 56) = 2.80, P < 0.05"
    Locator: page: 776-777 · Quote language: en
  2. Participants better recalled the folder location where a statement had been saved than the content of the statement itself; recall for the place where information was kept averaged 0.49 versus 0.23 for the statements themselves.
    "Overall, participants recalled the places where the statements were kept (M = 0.49, SD = 0.26) better than they recalled the statements themselves (M = 0.23, SD = 0.14), between-subject t(31) = 6.70, P < 0.001 two-tailed."
    Locator: page: 777-778 · Quote language: en
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