Taking a load off your mind
Written by Roberto Escobar
Most of us are familiar with the notion that we humans only use 10% of our brains. Although that notion does not reflect reality, we all take mental shortcuts to ease the mental load from our brains. These mental shortcuts are called “cognitive offloading”. Cognitive offloading is the use of physical action to reduce cognitive demand (Risko & Gilbert, 2016). For example, if you have ever set a reminder on your smartphone for an upcoming appointment, or used a calculator on a math exam, you have engaged in cognitive offloading. Our unaided mental abilities have well-known limits. We can use cognitive offloading to help us overcome the limitations in our mental abilities (Risko & Gilbert, 2016).
Research on cognitive offloading has exploded in recent years. As advancements in technology have provided more opportunities to engage in cognitive offloading, not surprisingly, research on cognitive offloading has increased. Tasks that would have once taken days now take only minutes, and tasks that would have once taken hours now take only a few seconds. For example, it only takes a few minutes to find a book online whereas it used to be a tedious process to go to the library, find the book, sign out the book, and return home. These shortcuts have consequences, both good and bad. The Big question is: what are the consequences of cognitive offloading?
Many people use global positioning system (GPS) apps on their phones to find their way. Before the advent of cell phones, people used maps, directions, and memory. Researchers have used this shift in navigation practices to investigate the consequences of cognitive offloading, and test if using a GPS impairs spatial memory. Research thus far has found that generally, using a GPS impairs spatial memory (Fenech et al, 2010; Gardony et al, 2013; Gardony et al, 2015). For example, Fenech (2010) tested two groups of participants. One group had to arrive at a destination without using a GPS (No GPS group), whereas the other group used a GPS (GPS
group). Both groups did the drive a second time; however, neither group was allowed to use a GPS on the second drive. On the first drive, the GPS group arrived at the destination much faster compared to the No GPS group. However, on the second drive, where no one used a GPS, the GPS group arrived at the destination much later compared to the No GPS group. Not only did the GPS participants arrive much later on the second drive, but they also did much more poorly on a scene recognition task that followed, compared to those from the No GPS group. This supports the initial hypothesis that using a GPS impairs drivers' spatial memory. This makes perfect sense from a layman’s perspective, “why do I need to memorize the route if I have my handy-dandy GPS to do it for me?”
Cognitive offloading takes many forms and extends far beyond GPS. Although these findings lead us to view cognitive offloading as a bad thing, that is not always the case. If one’s goal is to simply arrive at the destination once and never re-visit it, then the use of GPS and cognitive offloading is quite useful. Cognitive offloading has been found to improve performance across several domains such as working memory and visual perception (Morrison et al, 2020). More research is needed to understand this topic, because the long-term effects are still not well known and our everyday lives are becoming more cognitively entangled with technology.
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References
Fenech, E. P., Drews, F. A., & Bakdash, J. Z. (2010). The Effects of Acoustic Turn-by-turn Navigation on Wayfinding.
Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 54(23), 1926–1930. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.kpu.ca:2443/10.1177/154193121005402305
Gardony, A. L., Brunyé, T. T., Mahoney, C. R., & Taylor, H. A. (2013). How Navigational Aids Impair Spatial Memory:
Evidence for Divided Attention. Spatial Cognition & Computation, 13(4), 319-350. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.kpu.ca:2443/10.1080/13875868.2013.792821
Gardony, A. L., Brunyé, T. T., & Taylor, H. A. (2015). Navigational Aids and Spatial Memory Impairment: The Role of
Divided Attention. Spatial Cognition & Computation, 15(4), 246-284. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.kpu.ca:2443/10.1080/13875868.2015.1059432
Morrison, A.B., Richmond, L.L. (2020). Offloading Items from Memory: Individual Differences in Cognitive Offloading in
a Short-Term Memory Task. Cognitive Research, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-019-0201-4
Risko, E. F., & Gilbert, S. J. (2016). Cognitive Offloading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(9), 676-688.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.07.002
Disclaimer
The blog posts are for informational and educational purposes only. The posts should not be considered as any type of advice (medical, mental health, legal, and/or religious advice). All blog posts have been researched, written, and edited by the undergraduate students and alumni of the Lifespan Cognition Lab. As a teaching and research-based lab, we encourage all lab members to help make knowledge more accessible to all communities through these posts.
