[1 ]SThe Internet may be changing merely what we remember, not our capacity to do so, suggests Columbia University psychology professor Betsy Sparrow. ❷In 2011, Sparrow led a study in which participants were asked to record 40 factoids in a computer ("an ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain," for example). ,Half of the participants were told the information would be erased, while the other half were told it would be saved. OGuess what? The latter group made no effort to recall the information when quizzed on it later, because they knew they could find it on their computers. ®In the same study, a group was asked to remember both the information and the folders it was stored in. •They didn't remember the information, but they remembered how to find the folders. 01 n other words, human memory is not deteriorating but "adapting to new communications technology," Sparrow says. [2] Sin a very practical way, the Internet is becoming an external hard drive for our memories, a process known as "cognitive offloading." •Traditionally, this role was fulfilled by data banks, libraries, and other humans. OYour father may never remember birthdays because your mother does, for instance. •Some worry that this is having a destructive effect on society, but Sparrow sees an upside. •Perhaps, she suggests, the trend will change our approach to learning from a focus on individual facts and memorization to an emphasis on more conceptual (33) thinking—something that is not available on the Internet. •T personally have never seen all that much intellectual value in memorizing things," Sparrow says, adding that we haven*t lost our ability to do it. [3] ®Still other experts say it's too soon to understand how the Internet affects our brains. SThere is no experimental evidence showing that it interferes with our ability to focus, for instance, wrote psychologists Christopher Chabris and Daniel J. Simons.，And surfing the web exercised the brain more than reading did among computer-savvy older adults in a 2008 study involving 24 participants at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles. [4] •"There may be costs associated with our increased reliance on the Internet, but Pd have to imagine that overall the benefits are going to outweigh those costs," observes psychology professor Benjamin Storm. ®llIt seems pretty clear that memory is changing, but is it changing for the better? ❷At this point, we (35) don't know?'
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哥伦比亚大学心理学教授贝齐・斯帕罗认 为，互联网或许只不过正在改变我们的记忆内 容，而不是我们的记忆能力。2011年，在斯帕 罗开展的一项研究中，参与者被要求记录电脑 上40个趣味小新闻(例如，“鸵鸟的眼睛比它 的大脑更大”)。一半的参与者被告知这些信 息会被删除，而另一半参与者则被告知这些信 息会被保存。你猜怎么着？后一组参与者在后 来被询问信息时没有尝试回忆这些信息，因为 他们知道可以在自己的电脑上找到这些信息。 在同一项研究中，一组人被要求记住信息和存 储信息的文件夹。(31)他们不记得这些信息， 但记得如何我到这些文件夹。(35)换句话说， 人类的记忆并不是正在退化，而是“正在适应 新的通信拄术”，斯帕罗表示。 互联网正在以一种非常实用的方式 变成我们记忆的外部硬盘，这个过程被称为 认知卸载”。一直以来，这个角色是由数据 库、图书馆和其他人完成的。举个例子，你的 交亲可能从不记得(大家的)生日，因为你的 母亲记得。一些人担心这将会给社会带来破 坏性的影响，但是斯帕罗看到积极的方面。 物指出，这种趋势或许将改变我们的学习 方法，从关注单个亨实和记忆变为更加注意概 念思维-----种无法从互联网上获得的东西。 斯帕罗说，"我个人从未发现记忆事物的智力 价值有多高”，并补充道，我们并没有失去记 忆事物的能力。 不过，其他专家表示，了解互联网如 何影响我们的大脑还为时过早。例如,心理学 家克里斯托弗•查布里斯和丹尼尔• J.西蒙斯 写道，没有实验性的证据表明互联网会干扰我 们的专注力。2008年加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分 校的塞梅尔神经科学与人类行为研究所进行了 一项有24名参与者的研究，该研究表明，对于 精通电脑的老年人,上网比阅读更能锻炼大脑。 心理学教授本杰明•斯托姆表示：“我们 对互联网的依赖程度越来越高，这可能会产生 代价，但我认为，总体上益处一定多于弊端。 看起来很明显，记忆正在改变，但它是否 会变得更好？目前，我们还不得而知。” 篇章结构 第一段：引出话题——互联网或许只不过正在改变我们的记忆内容而不是记忆能力 第二段：分析话题——互联网能够减轻记忆负担并改变学习方法 忆的影响 第三、四段：补充说』第三段：现在了解互联网如何影响大脑还为时过早 明话题［第四段：在互联网的影响下，记忆正在改变，但目前不知是否会变得更好