Scientists have discovered that use of internet search engines and databases such as Google and IMDb.com to find information is making people lose their memory.

科学家发现，常用谷歌（Google）和互联网电影资料库（IMDb.com）等搜索引擎和数据库查找信息，会造成记忆力减退。

Search engines like Google or Yahoo make people think they are smarter than they actually are because they have the world's knowledge at their fingertips, psychologists at Yale University have found.

耶鲁大学的心理学家发现，谷歌或雅虎等搜索引擎容易让人对自己的聪明程度自视过高，因为他们只要轻触指尖，就能获取全世界的知识。

Browsing¹ the internet for information gives people a ‘widely inaccurate²’ view of their own intelligence and could lead to over-confidence when making decisions, experts warn.

专家提醒，浏览互联网信息会让人对自己的智力有一种“非常不准确”的认识，还会让人在做决定时过于自信。

In a series of experiments, participants who had searched for information on the internet believed they were far more knowledgeable³ about a subject than those who had learned by normal routes, such as reading a book or talking to a tutor. Internet users also believed their brains were sharper.

在一系列实验中，用互联网搜索信息的参与者认为，比起用查阅书籍或请教导师等常见学习方法搜索信息的参与者，他们对主题信息的了解更加全面。他们同时还认为，自己的思维更加敏锐。

"The Internet is such a powerful environment, where you can enter any question, and you basically have access to the world's knowledge at your fingertips," said lead researcher Matthew Fisher, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in psychology⁴ at Yale University.

首席研究员、耶鲁大学心理学四年级博士生马修•费舍尔表示：“互联网是一个如此强大的环境，在这里你可以查找任何问题，几乎可以浏览全世界的信息。

"It becomes easier to confuse your own knowledge with this external source. When people are truly on their own, they may be wildly inaccurate about how much they know and how dependent they are on the Internet."

“有了这样强大的外部信息来源，人们很容易对自己的知识能力进行误读。当他们只能依靠自己的力量时，对于自己知识的匮乏程度和对互联网的依赖程度，他们的认识也非常不准确。”

More than 1,000 students took part in a range of experiments aimed at gauging⁵ the psycholgocal impact of searching on the internet.

为了探究互联网搜索对心理的影响，研究人员对1000多名学生进行了一系列实验。

In one test, the internet group were given a website link which gave the answer to the question ‘how does a zip work’ while a control group were given a print-out of the same information.

在一项测试中，研究人员给互联网组提供了一个链接，内容是关于“拉链工作原理”的答案，未联网组拿到的则是打印版本的内容。

When the two groups were quizzed later on an unrelated question – ‘why are cloudy nights warmer?’ the group who had searched online believed they were more knowledgeable even though they were not allowed to look up the correct answer.

随后，两组人分别被问及一个不相关的问题“为什么阴天的夜晚更加温暖？”在不允许搜索正确答案的情况下，互联网组依然认为他们的知识更加渊博。

Psychology professor Frank Keil, of Yale University, said the study showed that the cognitive⁶ effects of "being in search mode" on the internet were so powerful that people still feel smarter even when their online searches did not help.

耶鲁大学心理学教授弗兰克•凯尔表示，这项研究表明，互联网“搜索模式”的认知效果非常强大，人们即使在没有寻求互联网帮助的情况下，仍然自我感觉良好。

And the growing use of smartphones may exacerbate⁷ the problem because an internet search is always within reach.

而随着智能手机的普及，互联网搜索更是触手可及，也使得这种状况更加严重。

“With the internet, the lines become blurry⁸ between what you know and what you think you know,” added Mr Fisher.

费舍尔补充道：“互联网的使用模糊了‘自己知道的事’与‘自以为知道的事’之间的界线。”

The researchers also believe that an inflated⁹ sense of personal knowledge also could be dangerous in the political realm or other areas involving high-stakes decisions.

研究人员还认为，个体知识的膨胀感在政治领域或涉及高风险决策的领域可能会十分危险。

"In cases where decisions have big consequences, it could be important for people to distinguish their own knowledge and not assume they know something when they actually don't," Mr Fisher added.

费舍尔说：“在做重大决策时，分清楚自己真正知道的东西和以为自己知道但其实并不知道的东西，对决策人来说很重要。"

The Internet is an enormous benefit in countless¹⁰ ways, but there may be some trade-offs that aren't immediately obvious and this may be one of them.

“互联网在很多方面具有巨大优势，有一些弊端可能不会立即显现，让人误以为自己更聪明可能就是弊端之一。

“Accurate personal knowledge is difficult to achieve, and the Internet may be making that task even harder."

“精准的自我认知本来就很难做到，而互联网让这个过程难上加难。”

The study was published by the American Psychological Association. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

这项研究结果由美国心理学协会发表在《实验心理学杂志•总论》上。