Month/Year of Graduation

5-2020

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Bethany Lyon

Abstract

Outsourcing is the process of using some external tool as a memory aid. There are a whole host of tools to outsource information that we want to remember. The purpose of this study was to better understand how outsourcing impacts memory for information outsourced and the information not outsourced. This study used different methods of navigation: simulated GPS as well as a self-generated route to involve the generation effect—generating the to-be-remembered information by oneself. Route accuracy and route tasks were measured by participants’ memory. The independent variables in the study are navigation source (GPS determined versus self-generated) and test instruction (counter-outsourcing, outsourcing, or incidental learning group). The dependent variables of interest include the participants’ memory for the route they took (outsourced material), and their memory for the tasks they were asked to complete at each location (non-outsourced material). When the participants used GPS, they were instructed on the specific route that they needed to take and what to do at each stop. When the participants were instructed to create their own route, they were informed of the stops that needed to be made, as well as the tasks they needed to complete. These findings will help clarify the role of the generation effect in outsourcing, and how outsourcing impacts memory for both outsourced material as well as non-outsourced material.

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