Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Whether through setting reminders on a smartphone, or creating grocery lists, we often rely on external aids to skirt the accuracy/capacity limitations of internal memory. When relying on internal memory, memory for valuable information is better than less valuable information. Across two preregistered experiments, we investigated how the availability of an external aid influences internal memory for high- and low-value information. We presented participants with to-be-stored words paired with values and assessed recall. Perceived external store availability and word value were manipulated within-participants. Recall was significantly higher for high-value items and when participants knew not to expect access to the external store. Critically, we found a significant reduction to the value effect when participants were told that they could use the external store, suggesting a reduction in the differential encoding of information by value. Results highlight the potential cost to memory for high-value information when external stores are available.