Cognitive offloading is value-based decision making: Modelling cognitive effort and the expected value of memory

How do people decide between maintaining information in short-term memory or offloading it to external reminders? How does this affect subsequent memory? This article presents a simple computational model based on two principles: A) items stored in brain -based memory occupy its limited capacity, generating an opportunity cost; B) reminders incur a small physical -action cost, but capacity is effectively unlimited. These costs are balanced against the value of remembering, which determines the optimal strategy. Simulations reproduce many empirical findings, including: 1) preferential offloading of high -value items; 2) increased offloading at higher memory loads; 3) offloading can cause forgetting of offloaded items ('Google effect ') but 4) improved memory for other items ('saving -enhanced memory '); 5) reduced saving -enhanced -memory effect when reminders are unreliable; 6) influence of item -value: people may preferentially offload high -value items and store additional lowvalue items in brain -based memory; 7) greatest sensitivity to the effort of reminder -setting at intermediate rather than highest/lowest levels of task difficulty; 8) increased offloading in individuals with poorer memory ability. Therefore, value -based decision -making provides a simple unifying account of many cognitive offloading phenomena. These results are consistent with an opportunity -cost model of cognitive effort, which can explain why internal memory feels effortful but reminders do not.