#foodie: Implications of interacting with social media for memory

Abstract

Background: Social media is an increasingly popular outlet for leisure and social interaction. On many social media platforms, the user experience involves commenting on or responding to user-generated content, such as images of cats, food, and people. In two experiments, we examined how the act of commenting on social media images impacts subsequent memory of those images, using Instagram posts as a test case. This project was inspired by recent findings of laboratory studies of conversation which found that describing a picture for a conversational partner boosts recognition memory for those images. Here we aimed to understand how this finding translates to the more ecologically valid realm of social media interactions. A second motivation for the study was the popularity of food-and dieting-related content on Instagram and prior findings that use of Instagram in particular is associated with disordered eating behaviors. Results: Across two experiments, we observed that commenting on Instagram posts consistently boosted subsequent recognition and that correct recognition increased with comment length. Stable individual differences in recognition memory were observed, and "unhealthy" food images such as chocolates were particularly well remembered; however, these memory findings did not relate to self-reported eating behavior. Conclusions: Taken together, our findings show that the way in which we engage with social media content shapes subsequent memory of it, raising new questions about how our online lives persist in memory over time, potentially shaping future behavior.behavior. Taken together, our findings show that the way in which we engage with social media images shapes subsequent memory for them, raising new questions about how our online lives persist in memory, potentially shaping future behavior.

The triangular self in the social media era

“…The virtual audience react to social media posts based on their knowledge of the person and interpretation of the material. The mere process of making comments on a post can shape the inferred self by boosting the commentator's memory for the post (Zimmerman and Brown-Schmidt 2020). Giving Likes to others’ social media posts also appears to be rewarding for the giver, activating brain regions responsible for reward processing and prosocial behaviour (Sherman et al 2018).…”

Online co‐witness discussions also lead to eyewitness memory distortion: The MORI‐v technique

“…Moreover, our experiments provide converging evidence with previous research showing that memory phenomena are affected by different online manipulations (Bourne et al, 2020;Brashier & Marsh, 2020;Giebl et al, in press;Stone & Storm, in press. ;Zimmerman & Brown-Schmidt, 2020). We believe we are experiencing exciting times to study cognition.…”

“…This massive exposure to erroneous and ever-changing information might have a remarkable effect on memory accuracy, and we already have compelling evidence pointing in that direction (Bourne et al, 2020;Brashier & Marsh, 2020;Giebl et al, in press;Stone & Storm, in press. ;Zimmerman & Brown-Schmidt, 2020). Therefore, there is an urgent need to establish reliable procedures to study memory distortions originated from virtually-based interactions.…”

Cognitive Implications of Engaging With “Fitspiration” Content on Social Media

“…Extending the insights from this prior work in laboratory-based referential communication tasks to the domain of social media raises the question of how typical behaviors within social media apps, such as viewing and commenting, might affect subsequent memory. Using real Instagram posts as a test case, Zimmerman and Brown-Schmidt (2020) examined how the act of commenting on a social media image affected subsequent memory for that image. Participants were asked to view a series of posts, one-by-one, over a series of trials.…”