Offloading memory: Serial position effects
Open accessAbstract
Despite the long history and pervasiveness of cognitive offloading as a memory strategy, the memorial fate of offloaded information is not well understood. Recent work has suggested that offloading information may engage similar mechanisms as instructions to forget (e.g., directed forgetting). In the present investigation, we test this prediction by examining the serial position effect for offloaded information. Previous research has demonstrated that "forget" instructions can eliminate the primacy effect while leaving an intact recency effect. Across two experiments, participants completed a number of free recall trials using an external aid and then a final recall trial without the external aid. We compared a group that was expecting to use the aid for the final trial (offloading) with a group that was not (no-offloading). We found a memory impairment for offloaded items that was characterized by a reduced primacy effect but a typical recency effect, similar to what has been reported in research on intentional/directed forgetting.
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Despite identical stimulus encoding, participants remembered word lists less accurately when they thought they would have access to external representations than when they thought they would have to rely on their internal memory.
“Moreover, Kelly and Risko (2019) recently studied how relying on external representations affects memory accuracy for the offloaded information. Despite identical stimulus encoding, the participants of this study remembered word lists less accurately when they thought they would have access to external representations than when they thought they would have to rely on their internal memory.”
From Consequences of cognitive offloading: Boosting performance but diminishing memory (2021) · cites this paper as Kelly and Risko (2019)
In prior lines of research, participants typically could not choose how to perform the task while encoding task-relevant information.
“Critically, in these lines of research, the participants typically could not choose how to perform the task while encoding task-relevant information (e.g., Eskritt & Ma, 2014; Kelly & Risko, 2019; Sparrow et al., 2011).”
From Consequences of cognitive offloading: Boosting performance but diminishing memory (2021) · cites this paper as Kelly & Risko, 2019
Offloading is linked to intentional forgetting.
“A recent paper links offloading to intentional forgetting”
From The Cognitive Architecture of Digital Externalization (2023) · cites this paper as Kelly & Risko, 2019a
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Sparrow, B., Liu, J., & Wegner, D. M. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1207745 · Cited by 1,762 · see citing works
The serial position effect of free recall.
Murdock, B. B. (1962) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0045106 · Cited by 1,717 · cited 2× · see citing works
“We examined serial position effects (e.g., Glanzer & Cunitz, 1966; Murdock, 1962) for offloaded information as a test of whether offloading mirrors the recall patterns of intentional/ directed forgetting.”
BackgroundRisko, E. F., & Gilbert, S. J. (2016) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2016.07.002 · Cited by 1,502 · see citing works
Self-citationErroneous analyses of interactions in neuroscience: A problem of significance
Nieuwenhuis, S., Forstmann, B. U., & Wagenmakers, E.-J. (2011) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.2886 · Cited by 864 · see citing works
Storing information in-the-world: Metacognition and cognitive offloading in a short-term memory task
Risko, E. F., & Dunn, T. L. (2015) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2015.05.014 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
Self-citationSaving-Enhanced Memory: The Benefits of Saving on the Learning and Remembering of New Information
Storm, B. C., & Stone, S. M. (2015) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797614559285 · Cited by 192 · see citing works
Strategic offloading of delayed intentions into the external environment
Gilbert, S. J. (2015) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470218.2014.972963 · Cited by 164 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…bodies and artifacts in our physical environment into our cognitive acts (e.g., Cherkaoui & Gilbert, 2017; Dunn & Risko, 2015; Eskritt & Ma, 2014; Gilbert, 2015; Gilbert, Bird, Carpenter, Fleming, Sachdeva, & Tsai 2018; Risko & Dunn, 2015; Risko, Medimorec, Chisholm, & Kingstone, 2013; Sparrow,…”
Toward a Metacognitive Account of Cognitive Offloading
Dunn, T. L., & Risko, E. F. (2016) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.12273 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
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Consequences of cognitive offloading: Boosting performance but diminishing memory
Grinschgl, S., Papenmeier, F., & Meyerhoff, H. S. (2021) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1177/17470218211008060 · Cited by 147 · see citing works
“Critically, in these lines of research, the participants typically could not choose how to perform the task while encoding task-relevant information (e.g., Eskritt & Ma, 2014; Kelly & Risko, 2019; Sparrow et al., 2011).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialOutsourcing Memory to External Tools: A Review of ‘Intention Offloading’
Gilbert, S. J., Boldt, A., Sachdeva, C., Scarampi, C., & Tsai, P.-C. (2023) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-022-02139-4 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
The Cognitive Architecture of Digital Externalization
Skulmowski, A. (2023) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10648-023-09818-1 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
“A recent paper links offloading to intentional forgetting (Kelly & Risko, 2019a; for an overview of intentional forgetting, see Anderson & Hulbert, 2021).”
BackgroundInterface and interaction design: How mobile touch devices foster cognitive offloading
Grinschgl, S., Meyerhoff, H. S., & Papenmeier, F. (2020) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106317 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Harder Than You Think: How Outside Assistance Leads to Overconfidence
Fisher, M., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2021) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797620975779 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
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Sun, J., Wang, Y., Hu, Z., Liu, Y., & Sun, Y. (2025) · British Journal of Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjdp.12540 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kelly, M. O., & Risko, E. F.
- Affiliations
- University of Waterloo (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Kelly, Megan O.
- Venue
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
- Published
- 2019-06-03
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1347-1353
- ISSN
- 1069-9384 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-5320
- OpenAlex
- W2948073202
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 3.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Cognitive Science
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- cognitive offloading, serial position effect, primacy effect, recency effect, free recall, external memory aids, directed forgetting, intentional forgetting, memory impairment
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Cognition, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Recall, Intention
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