Discuss positive and negative effects of modern technology on cognitive processes Flashcards
How has technology developed in the last century?
Technology has evolved enormously in the last century from computers for learning and working to video games for entertainment.
What have psychologists been asking?
With all of this change, psychologists have been asking whether all of this technology is good for us or not and therefore both positive and negative effects have been the subject of research.
Positive side of technology
On the positive side, some argue digital technology can enhance cognitive functioning
For example, video gaming can improve perception, mental rotation skills, visual memory, attention, task-switching, multi-tasking and decision-making.
Negative side of technology
On the negative side, some contend that digital technology can lead to distraction, reduced attention spans, a sense of social isolation, scattered thinking and a decline in the ability to think analytically
What cognitive process has been the focus of several investigation how the effect of technology?
Memory
First example of technology effect on memory
Search engines
Study on search engines
Sparrow et al
Aim of Sparrow et al
Were interested in how search engines might affect memory
What did Sparrow et al liken search engines to?
External memory sources accessible when information is needed.
In this way, digital technology is changing the way information is stored.
You may not remember the information, but you do know where you can find that information when necessary.
What were Sparrow et al confident about?
Were confident that memory is adapting to new computing and communication technology and they reached this conclusion after a series of experiments.
Procedure of Sparrow
The researchers showed participants trivial pieces of information, for example ‘an ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain’.
These statements were then typed into a computer by the participants.
Half the participants believed what they typed would be saved while the other half were informed the information would be lost.
Results of Sparrow
Participants who believed the information would be lost recalled more statements than the participants who were told that the information would be saved.
Additional experiment from Sparrow
Additional experiments followed the same set of procedures but this time the computer responded either by saying ‘Your entry has been saved’, ‘Your entry has been erased’ or ‘Your entry has been saved to…’ followed by a folder name.
Each person was then shown a list of statements and asked two questions: ‘Have you seen this fact before?’, ‘Was this fact saved or deleted?’ or ‘Where was this fact saved?
Result of second experiment from Sparrow
When a fact had been flagged as one that the computer erased, participants had a better memory of the fact itself.
However, when the computer told them that the fact had been saved and where it had been saved, they more accurately remembered that it had been saved and where it had been saved compared to remembering the fact itself.
Conclusion of Sparrow
Based on these results the researchers challenged simplistic arguments that digital technology is detrimental to cognitive processes like memory.
Arguments made by Sparrow’s research
Some people argue that knowing where to find information, which is almost immediate with a digital device in our hands, critically evaluating that information, and then using the information in an analytical process is better than having a basic memory of the information.
Especially in a learning context, higher order thinking skills can be developed sooner with outsourcing some factual knowledge to ‘search engines’ because the testing of regurgitated factual information takes away time from developing higher order thinking skills.
However, others argue that this dependency on technology is what is detrimental to our memory as if we lost the technology then we would not be able to obtain the information at all.
Issue with Sparrow
An issue with the study is that the tasks had low ecological validity as in addition to knowing that they were part of an experiment, the information that they were being exposed to was of limited value or interest to the students.
Research shows that we tend to remember information that we process deeply and that is of personal relevance.
Neither of these two variables was measured in these studies.
In addition, it is highly possible that there were demand characteristics and that the aim of the research was figured out by participants reducing the validity of the findings.
Study that further supports Sparrow
Kaspersky Lab
What term did they use to describe the process found in Sparrow et al?
Digital amnesia
Procedure of Kaspersky Lab
They conducted a survey to find more about it. They conducted an internet survey consumers.
Participants were asked to recall important telephone numbers.
They were also asked how and where they stored information they located online.
Results of Kaspersky Lab
The results were that more than half of adult consumers could recall their home phone number, and that parents could recall their children’s phone numbers and their work phone number.
One in three participants reported they were happy to forget or risk forgetting information they can find online.
The study also found that a third of participants reported that they would turn to the internet before trying to remember information and a quarter reported they would forget an online fact as soon as they had used it.
The results were consistent across male and female respondents but higher rates of amnesia were prevalent in older age groups.
Conclusion of Kaspersky Lab
The overall conclusion of the study was that connected devices enrich lives but they can result in digital amnesia.
Argument that can be made on Kaspersky Lab
The study puts into question how we can determine whether something is beneficial as, is whether the person themselves are happy with the effect, or is it up to psychologists to determine whether it is a good thing to happen.
It therefore puts into question whether the benefits are actually relative to each individual’s perception of it. In this case as the majority were unhappy that they were forgetting information and therefore we could argue that this means that technology has a negative effect as it is not what the majority of people want to occur.
Evaluation of Kaspersky Lab
A strength of the study is that it had a large sample size and therefore makes the results reliable
However, the study was based on survey by participants and therefore lack reliability as the participants could show social desirability bias which would affect their response.
Other aspect that psychologists have researched to find its effect on memory
Video games and how it affects children and adolescents.
Argument about video games
This topic remains a contested and unresolved issue.
Those who oppose video games argue they increase aggressive behaviour, bring social isolation and teach antisocial values. In addition, excessive video-gaming can adversely affect academic performance and lead to poor health.
Positive argument on video games
Others argue video gaming can improve cognitive functions including memory, spatial skills, pattern recognition, analysis and decision-making.
No conclusion has yet emerged from the psychological research.
Research on video games
Blacker et al.
What did Blacker theorise?
Theorised that games could expand the capacity of the visual working memory and argues that technology can have a positive impact on memory.
Procedure of Blacker et al
In the experiment participants either played an action video game or a more relaxed video game.
Results of Blacker et al
Individuals who played on an action game showed significant improvement on measures of VWM capacity compared with those who played the control game.
Conclusion of Blacker et al
The investigators concluded that exposure to rich visual environments over an extensive period is a distinctive form of training that may allow individuals to extend the capacity of VWM
Therefore shows technology as positive
Who does not believe video games being positive?
Small and Vorgan (2008) believe.
Evaluation of Blacker et al
A key strength of the study is that the researchers thought of the possible confounding variables that might affect the results.
This was done by measuring motivation and enjoyment, which were equal in both groups, and therefore could be excluded as confounding variables that may have affected the improvement in VWM.
However, this was a very small all male volunteer sample that cannot be seen as representative of any population.
Conclusion of technology on memory
Technology appears to be quite beneficial for the person itself as it helps them to no longer rely on their own memory.
However, a key issue of technology is that there is strong evidence for digital amnesia which in terms of the participants’ cognition is very negative but technology has helped them to no longer rely on their cognition.
Therefore, it is debatable and based on perspectives on whether technology is good or bad for participants.
Video games on the other hand do appear to improve memory and cognition for the visual working memory and therefore it is important to see that certain technology can help with cognition.
However, it is difficult to give a complete and conclusive answer as technology and cognition are both very broad that we cannot generalise the findings found from this research to the whole of the effect of technology on cognition.
