Meta-analytic investigations of the effect of cognitive offloading on memory-based task performance and interindividual variability.
Humans have long used external resources to overcome limitations of internal memory. However, experimental research investigating the efficacy of these strategies has emerged relatively recently. Given the rapidly growing interest in this topic, we conducted two meta-analyses to answer key questions...
| Publicado en: | Memory & Cognition Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 144 - 169 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
Jan2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=191289398&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 191289398 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 0090502X MEG jtl: Memory & Cognition issn: 0090502X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan2026 vid: 54 iid: 1 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 191289398 10.3758/s13421-025-01743-8 ppf: 144 ppct: 25 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 1.7MB tig: atl: Meta-analytic investigations of the effect of cognitive offloading on memory-based task performance and interindividual variability. aug: au: Burnett, Lois K. Richmond, Lauren L. affil: https://ror.org/05qghxh33 Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA su: Task performance Executive function Age distribution Memory Meta-analysis Descriptive statistics MEDLINE Online information services Short-term memory Psychology information storage & retrieval systems sug: subj: Task performance Executive function Age distribution Memory Meta-analysis Descriptive statistics MEDLINE Online information services Short-term memory Psychology information storage & retrieval systems keyword: Cognitive offloading Meta-analysis of variance Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology Cognitive offloading Meta-analysis of variance Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology ab: Humans have long used external resources to overcome limitations of internal memory. However, experimental research investigating the efficacy of these strategies has emerged relatively recently. Given the rapidly growing interest in this topic, we conducted two meta-analyses to answer key questions regarding the effects of cognitive offloading – the use of physical action to reduce internal cognitive demand – on the performance of memory-based tasks. A meta-analysis of mean differences revealed that the benefit of offloading is greater for forced- compared to choice-offloading conditions and within- compared to between-subject designs. A meta-analysis of variance found that cognitive offloading reduces interindividual variability in the performance of memory-based tasks and that the reduction is greater for adults compared to children, for forced- compared to choice-offloading conditions, and for prospective compared to retrospective memory tasks. Study modality was not a significant moderator in either analysis. We discuss the applied, theoretical, and methodological implications of these findings. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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