For Immediate Release
Snapchat Facilitates Autobiographical Memory
Contact: Kathryn Ryan
914-740-2250
kryan@liebertpub.com
New Rochelle, NY, May 24, 2021—People are more likely to remember an event they posted on a transient social media site such as Snapchat. A new study, which shows that sharing personal memories on ephemeral social media facilitates autobiographical memory, is published in the peer-reviewed journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. Click here to read the article now.
Andrew Johnson and Emily Morley, Bournemouth University, designed a study in which participants completed a daily diary across six consecutive days. Snapchat posting was permitted on alternate days of the study. On the seventh day, the participants received a surprise memory test for the diary entries. The researchers evaluated the number of diary entries recorded and then correctly recalled at test, as well as the number of words used in the diaries and then at recall.
“We showed that participants recalled significantly more diary entries and used significantly more words when recalling entries from the Snapchat days compared to the non-Snapchat days,” said the authors.
“Previous studies have shown enhanced recall for autobiographical memories shared on Facebook. The present study extends those findings to the ephemeral platform of Snapchat,” says Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCB, BCN, Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium.
About the Journal
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online with Open Access options and in print that explores the psychological and social issues surrounding the Internet and interactive technologies. Complete tables of contents and a sample issue may be viewed on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science, medicine, and law. A complete list of the firm’s more than 100 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.