Results: The Interplay Between Internal and External Memory

Abstract

In this chapter we finish reporting the results of our comprehensive survey study on the interplay of internal and external memory in everyday life and how that is changing in the early twenty-first century (N = 476 Mechanical Turk participants). We report on the themes that emerged from the qualitative data on the interplay between internal and external memory, and we also report correlational analyses. Participants’ responses indicated that internal memory is used more than external memory for episodic and procedural purposes, and its strengths are in rich vivid recollection, phenomenology, personal relevance, creativity, and security; external memory is used more than internal memory for semantic and prospective purposes, and its strengths are in accuracy, precision, fidelity, longevity, and capacity. The overall picture is of a growing symbiosis between internal and external memory; the two complement and depend on each other.