Photos may affect memory

Taking a photo or screenshot on your phone can seem like a good way to remember an important moment or piece of information. However a new study suggests that taking the picture yourself may sometimes make it harder to remember the details later.

Researchers from the Department of Psychology at Binghamton University in the United States found that people who took photos of something to help remember it were less likely to recall details later than those who did not take a photo.

The study, published in the journal Memory & Cognition describes this as the “photo taking impairment effect.”

Photos may give the brain less work

According to lead researcher and Binghamton University doctoral student Sofia Fabrizio, people may forget more details of an event or information when they take their own photos but do not look at those photos again later.

Researchers noted that smartphone users often have thousands of photos stored on their phones with many more added every day.  Looking back at these photos can help refresh memories but simply taking a photo and leaving it in the camera roll may not be enough.

Researchers tested the effect

The researchers carried out seven different experiments. Participants were shown works of art and were asked to take photos of some of them.  Later they were tested on what they remembered.

The results showed that people who took the photos themselves remembered fewer details than those who did not take photos.

Taking the photo may be the key

Interestingly the effect appeared only when participants personally used a camera to take the photos.  Photos taken automatically by cameras worn on the body did not cause the same memory problem.

This suggests that the act of personally taking a photo may play an important role in how well people remember what they see.