Cognitive Effects of the Digital World: Long‐Term Memory Formation and Retrieval

9/13/2024

The article “Online Brain”: How the Internet May be Changing Our Cognition, written by Firth et al., describes a band of recent studies exploring the extent of the adverse cognitive effects of increasing online engagement. One study comprehensively examined young adults using neuroimaging evaluations of one-hour daily internet tasks. The study discovered that the functional connectivity of the areas of the brain related to long‐term memory formation and retrieval was significantly impacted in participants (Firth et al. par. 18). Indicating that users’ dependency on the internet hinders “…memory retrieval by reducing the functional connectivity and synchronization of associated brain regions” (Firth et al., 2019). Not only did the internet search training disrupt functional connectivity of the memory storage associated areas of the brain, but follow-up questions presented to the participants a week after the training resulted in a heavy gravitation and impulse to use the internet to find the answers, further suggesting a firm reliance on the internet as an external form of memory (Firth et al. par. 19).

Another study conveys that the lack of connectivity in the areas of the brain associated with memory retrieval may be due to the lack of stimulation in internet searches compared to other forms of informational input. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine the performance of the memory storage processes of the brain, comparing Internet and encyclopedia-based, printed knowledge intake (Firth et al. par. 22). The study specifically focused on the ventral and dorsal streams, which control the “what” and “where” of the memory-forming process. The study concluded that the dorsal stream was not affected. However, the information gained from internet searches displayed that the ventral “what” stream was less active than the encyclopedia-gained knowledge. “… results showed that the poorer recall of Internet‐sought information compared to encyclopedia‐based learning was associated with reduced activation of the ventral (“what”) stream during online information gathering” (Firth et al. par. 22). These findings depict that although the Internet will produce quick results, it will not stimulate the brain's memory regions enough to create long-lasting memories compared to other forms of informational input and that reliance on the internet causes a deficiency in long-term memory storage and recall.

Citations

Firth, Joseph, et al. “The ‘Online Brain’: How the Internet May Be Changing Our Cognition.” World Psychiatry: Official Journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 18 June 2019, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6502424/.