Short-term effect of the Internet use on memory of adults

Abstract

The relevance of the research is due to the increasing use of the Internet and the lack of reliable information about the Internet exposure on higher mental functions of the users of different age. The aim of the study is to detect the short-term effect of the Internet use on indirect memorization in adults. The study has been conducted in terms of intraindividual quasi-experiment, that assessed the accuracy of memorization in two conditions: traditional reading (a book), web-search (a mobile phone). The pictogram test in the author’s variant was the main tool to assess the memory of adults. The research was held among teachers during classes of training courses (n=50; 12 males, 38 females; average age 44,56±4,11). To implement a scheme of a positionally equalized sequence of sampling, the sample was divided into 2 groups. In the results, one third of the sample showed the same level of accuracy in memorizing words in different conditions. Most of the participants demonstrated positive trends while reading (р≤0,01). While the number of mistakes was three times more for the web-search.

Keywords

• adults
• mediated memorization
• pictogram test
• quasi experiment
• traditional reading
• web-search