Take a load off: examining partial and complete cognitive offloading of medication information
Abstract Although cognitive offloading, or the use of physical action to reduce internal cognitive demands, is a commonly used strategy in everyday life, relatively little is known about the conditions that encourage offloading and the memorial consequences of different offloading strategies for per...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Cognitive Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-023-00468-z |
| _version_ | 1797865812832288768 |
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| author | Lauren L. Richmond Julia Kearley Shawn T. Schwartz Mary B. Hargis |
| author_facet | Lauren L. Richmond Julia Kearley Shawn T. Schwartz Mary B. Hargis |
| author_sort | Lauren L. Richmond |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Although cognitive offloading, or the use of physical action to reduce internal cognitive demands, is a commonly used strategy in everyday life, relatively little is known about the conditions that encourage offloading and the memorial consequences of different offloading strategies for performance. Much of the extant work in this domain has focused on laboratory-based tasks consisting of word lists, letter strings, or numerical stimuli and thus makes little contact with real-world scenarios under which engaging in cognitive offloading might be likely. Accordingly, the current work examines offloading choice behavior and potential benefits afforded by offloading health-related information. Experiment 1 tests for internal memory performance for different pieces of missing medication interaction information. Experiment 2 tests internal memory and offloading under full offloading and partial offloading instructions for interaction outcomes that are relatively low severity (e.g., sweating). Experiment 3 extends Experiment 2 by testing offloading behavior and benefit in low-severity, medium-severity (e.g., backache), and high-severity interaction outcomes (e.g., heart attack). Here, we aimed to elucidate the potential benefits afforded by partial offloading and to examine whether there appears to be a preference for choosing to offload (i) difficult-to-remember information across outcomes that vary in severity, as well as (ii) information from more severe interaction outcomes. Results suggest that partial offloading benefits performance compared to relying on internal memory alone, but full offloading is more beneficial to performance than partial offloading. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T23:14:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-11fee227be204822a4300e6119df9039 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2365-7464 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T23:14:54Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cognitive Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-11fee227be204822a4300e6119df90392023-03-22T10:03:23ZengSpringerOpenCognitive Research2365-74642023-02-018111910.1186/s41235-023-00468-zTake a load off: examining partial and complete cognitive offloading of medication informationLauren L. Richmond0Julia Kearley1Shawn T. Schwartz2Mary B. Hargis3Department of Psychology, Stony Brook UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Stony Brook UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Stanford UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Texas Christian UniversityAbstract Although cognitive offloading, or the use of physical action to reduce internal cognitive demands, is a commonly used strategy in everyday life, relatively little is known about the conditions that encourage offloading and the memorial consequences of different offloading strategies for performance. Much of the extant work in this domain has focused on laboratory-based tasks consisting of word lists, letter strings, or numerical stimuli and thus makes little contact with real-world scenarios under which engaging in cognitive offloading might be likely. Accordingly, the current work examines offloading choice behavior and potential benefits afforded by offloading health-related information. Experiment 1 tests for internal memory performance for different pieces of missing medication interaction information. Experiment 2 tests internal memory and offloading under full offloading and partial offloading instructions for interaction outcomes that are relatively low severity (e.g., sweating). Experiment 3 extends Experiment 2 by testing offloading behavior and benefit in low-severity, medium-severity (e.g., backache), and high-severity interaction outcomes (e.g., heart attack). Here, we aimed to elucidate the potential benefits afforded by partial offloading and to examine whether there appears to be a preference for choosing to offload (i) difficult-to-remember information across outcomes that vary in severity, as well as (ii) information from more severe interaction outcomes. Results suggest that partial offloading benefits performance compared to relying on internal memory alone, but full offloading is more beneficial to performance than partial offloading.https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-023-00468-zCognitive offloadingValue-based rememberingMedication informationPartial offloading |
| spellingShingle | Lauren L. Richmond Julia Kearley Shawn T. Schwartz Mary B. Hargis Take a load off: examining partial and complete cognitive offloading of medication information Cognitive Research Cognitive offloading Value-based remembering Medication information Partial offloading |
| title | Take a load off: examining partial and complete cognitive offloading of medication information |
| title_full | Take a load off: examining partial and complete cognitive offloading of medication information |
| title_fullStr | Take a load off: examining partial and complete cognitive offloading of medication information |
| title_full_unstemmed | Take a load off: examining partial and complete cognitive offloading of medication information |
| title_short | Take a load off: examining partial and complete cognitive offloading of medication information |
| title_sort | take a load off examining partial and complete cognitive offloading of medication information |
| topic | Cognitive offloading Value-based remembering Medication information Partial offloading |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-023-00468-z |
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