Saving-Enhanced Memory
The boost in later learning or performance that follows saving earlier information to an outside store.
What it is
Runge and colleagues reported that participants who saved a word list after study solved more modular arithmetic problems than participants who could not save, and suggest that saving frees resources for demanding work. Buchli and Storm found across three experiments that the benefit was larger for people with higher working memory capacity.
In effect
The article on cognitive offloading for the finding that saving a word list was followed by more arithmetic problems solved draws on it, and that the boost in later learning was larger for people with higher working memory capacity.
What it does not say
The experiments used word lists and arithmetic problems in a laboratory. They do not say how saving notes or photos affects memory in daily life.
Sources
- Runge, Y., Frings, C., & Tempel, T. (2019). Saving-enhanced performance: Saving items after study boosts performance in subsequent cognitively demanding tasks. Memory, 27(10), 1462-1467.
- Buchli, D. R., & Storm, B. C. (2025). Working memory capacity and the saving-enhanced memory effect. Memory, 33(8), 1015-1030.