Discuss positive and/or negative effects of digital technology on emotion and cognition

digital tools such as computers, video games, and laptops that are used to process and store information

mental processes such as attention, memory, and decision-making,

psychological states that influence behaviour and thinking

Emotion and cognition are closely interconnected, as emotional experiences can shape how information is processed, stored, and recalled. Digital technology can therefore influence cognition indirectly through its impact on emotional processes, often leading to memory distortion and biased recall.

Digital technology influences cognition is through emotionally significant public events that are repeatedly discussed and mediated through digital and traditional platforms.

A highly vivid and detailed memory of a surprising, emotionally significant event.

Hirst et al. (2008)

to investigate whether there is a correlation between the amount of media coverage and the accuracy of their memories of the event

Correlational study
391 participants (who filled out all 3 surveys)
First survey was about the 9/11 attack 1 week after attack.
Indicated whether or not willing to be contacted in a year for follow-upsurvey 2
survey 2) 1 yr later. those who indicated yes in survey 1 AND new participants (to examine possible effect of prior participation)completed survey 2
survey 3) 2 yrs later (from survey 2)
The survey was aprox 17 pgs and took around 45 min to complete
questions included: consistency of FBM (FlashBulb Memory), accuracy of event, predictors (consequentiality (personal loss or inconvenience), intensity of emotional response, rehearsal) "how confident are you that your recollection is accurate?" 1 (low) - 5 (high"how accurately do you think you will remember 2 yrs from now?"

- there was a higher level of accuracy in the 9/11 memories
- however, there was also more media coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks over the three years following the event

- the rate of forgetting for FBM slows after a year
- strong emotional reactions remembered more poorly than factual info such as where or when they learned it
- the content of event memory stabilizes after a year

This suggests that memory is highly reconstructive and influenced by external information sources. Importantly, the emotional nature of the 9/11 event likely played a key role in shaping cognition, as emotionally intense experiences tend to receive greater attention and are more frequently rehearsed. While this may strengthen initial encoding, it also increases susceptibility to distortion due to repeated exposure to emotionally charged media narratives

Testability: The study uses a longitudinal design, tracking the same participants over time, which allows researchers to systematically observe how memory changes.
Standardised questions improve consistency across testing points. However, there is low control over extraneous variables, such as media exposure and social discussion. As a result, it is difficult to establish cause-and-effect relationships between media exposure and memory distortion.

Application: Useful in forensic psychology, as it highlights how eyewitness testimony can be influenced by media and discussion and helps explain how public memory of major events is shaped. However, it has limited application to everyday memory tasks (e.g. studying, routine recall) and findings may not easily translate to low-emotion situations.

Construct validity: High construct validity because it measures real autobiographical memory rather than artificial lab tasks and captures memory as it naturally occurs over time. However, Difficult to isolate what specifically caused memory changes (media, discussion, time) and because the study used surveys self-reported self-reported memory may be influenced by recall bias.

Digital technology also affects cognition through emotionally engaging online environments, particularly social media and interpersonal communication

Talorico et al. (2017)

investigate whether the source of news (traditional media, social media or person) shaped how people remembered learning of an event

longitudinal, quasi-experimental survey method

329 partipents were asked how they learned of Osama bin Laden's assassination immediately after the event
Participants were assigned to groups based on how they first heard the news (traditional media, social media, or other people).
There were then follow up surveys that asked particiepnts about the event 7, 42, 224, or 365 days later to measure the accuracy and vividness of their memories using a 7-point scale

Television Exposure: Produced the best memory in terms of both accuracy and vividness.
Personal Communication: Showed the lowest memory accuracy.
Social Media: Showed the lowest memory vividness.
Consistency: The context of reception did not impact the consistency of the memory over time; it declined similarly for all groups
This difference can be explained by emotional engagement, as social media content often triggers emotional responses such as social comparison, relevance, and personal identification.

This study shows how emotional reactions increase attention and enhance memory encoding, meaning cognition is shaped by the emotional salience of the information source. A strength of this study is its relevance to real-world digital behaviour, as individuals frequently obtain information through multiple online sources.

Predictive Validity: Suggests that future memory of events will continue to be shaped by digitally mediated emotional engagement and helps predict how people may form biased or selective memories based on media source. However, the study is difficult to predict long-term outcomes due to rapid changes in technology and media platforms and
inidivual variability limits accuracy of predictions.

Empircle: Supports the idea that source of information influences memory, particularly through emotional engagement and provides evidence that digital platforms (social media) shape how events are encoded and recalled. However, evidence may be descriptive rather than causal, especially if not fully experimental and does not isolate emotion directly, so emotional influence is often inferred rather than measured limitng internal validity

Testability: The study likely uses a longitudinal, quasi-experimental survey method (e.g. social media vs traditional media vs interpersonal), allowing for systematic analysis of how source affects memory and standardised tasks (recall of events) improve consistency. However, difficult to control emotional engagement, as individuals respond differently to social media content and potential confounding variables such as prior knowledge, personal relevance, and media habits reduce internal validity.

igital technology influences cognition through emotional mechanisms. Hirst et al. (2008) demonstrates that emotionally significant real-world events, combined with repeated media exposure, can lead to reconstructive memory and distortion over time. Similarly, Talorico et al. (2017) shows that emotionally engaging digital sources influence how information is encoded and recalled. Therefore, digital technology influences both emotion and cognition by shaping emotional engagement with information, which in turn affects cognitive processes such as memory and recall.