Electrophysiological Correlates of Saving-Enhanced Memory: Exploring Similarities to List-Method Directed Forgetting

People regularly outsource parts of their memory onto external memory stores like computers or smartphones. Such cognitive offloading can enhance subsequent memory performance, as referred to the saving-enhanced memory effect [Storm & Stone, 2015. Saving-enhanced memory: The benefits of saving on the learning and remembering of new information. Psychological Science, 26(2), 182-188]. The cognitive mechanisms of this effect are not clear to date, however similarities to list-method directed forgetting (LMDF) have been stated. Here, we want to examine in 52 participants the electrophysiological (EEG) correlates of the saving-enhanced memory effect and compare our results to earlier LMDF findings [Hanslmayr et al., 2012. Prefrontally driven downregulation of neural synchrony mediates goal-directed forgetting. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(42), 14742-14751]. For this purpose, EEG alpha power and alpha phase synchrony during the encoding of two word lists will be compared as a function of saving or no-saving. If saving-enhanced memory is related to LMDF, saving in comparison to no-saving between lists should reduce alpha power and alpha phase synchrony during List 2 encoding, two effects that have been related to List 2 encoding benefits and List 1 inhibition in the earlier LMDF work. Overall, the results of the present study will clarify how close the saving-enhanced memory effect is related (at the level of brain oscillations) to LMDF.