Boosting human memory akin to saving files on PCs

A new study has revealed that saving files on your computer can help you boost your memory when it comes to remembering new information.

The study suggests that the act of saving helps to free up cognitive resources that can be used to remember new information.

Psychological scientist and study author Benjamin Storm of the University of California, Santa Cruz, said that their findings show that people are significantly better at learning and remembering new information when they save previous information.

He said that saving acts as a form of offloading and by ensuring that certain information will be digitally accessible, people can re-allocate cognitive resources away from maintaining that information and focus instead on remembering new information.

The researchers said that people tend to think of forgetting as happening when memory fails, but research suggests that forgetting plays an essential role in supporting the adaptive functioning of memory and cognition.

The study was published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.