How to Use Your Brain in the Age of Generative AI: How I Improved My Work Performance by Stopping Pre-Trip Research [Memory and Records: Extra Edition]
"I used to prepare properly, but lately I've been slacking off..."
Do you have any guilty feelings like that? I've felt that way for a long time. But as a researcher, I looked into it, and it turns out it wasn't slacking off at all—it was a clever strategy by my brain. Today, as an extra edition of the "Memory and Records" series entered in the Creative Awards Business Category, I'm going to write about that. 📝
Click here for the main "Memory and Records" series 👇
Something I suddenly realized on the station platform
The other day, I went on a long-distance business trip for the first time in a while.
I got off the Shinkansen and transferred to a local line. In front of the ticket gate, I tapped on my phone's transit guide, confirmed "Platform 3, next one in 12 minutes," and headed to the platform. It didn't even take 30 seconds.
That's when I remembered my early days as a working professional.
Back then, every time I had a business trip, I would spend 20 to 30 minutes the night before doing "pre-trip research." Transfer stations, which platform, departure times, transfer duration, the next train if I missed one... I would write it all down in my notebook so I could get around without looking at my notes on the day.
At some point, that changed to "just knowing the approximate travel time and using my phone on-site."
At first, I felt a bit guilty about this. But when I stopped to think, "Is this really slacking off?", a completely different perspective emerged.
Why do we let go of "remembering things"?
Actually, this phenomenon has a proper name in psychology.
The Google Effect. A 2011 study by Sparrow and colleagues found that "people are less likely to remember information that they know they can look up later. Instead, they are better at remembering 'where to find it'."
The brain decides, "This is outside, so I don't need to hold onto it," and switches what it focuses on remembering.
Another concept I found convincing is **Transactive Memory**. Originally a theory about group memory, it suggests that "a group can function as long as you know 'who knows what,' without needing to remember everything yourself."
Like the family division of labor where you think, "If it's about machines, just ask my brother." That's the memory version of this.
And now, smartphones have become our "memory partners." We let go of the transit information itself and only remember the access point, thinking, "I can just ask my phone." You could say I stopped doing pre-trip research because I gained a partner I can entrust my memory to.
Where did the saved time and brain capacity go?
This is the part I most wanted to write about this time.
In the world of research, there is a concept called **Cognitive Offloading**. It refers to actions like taking notes, setting alarms, or saving things to your phone—offloading processing to an external source.
What we know is that the more information people have to carry, the higher the load, and the more actively they externalize it. There are also reports that externalizing information actually improves performance on the task at hand.
The reason is simple: our working memory (the area of the brain that temporarily holds information while working) is limited. If you reduce what you are carrying, you can redirect that extra capacity to other tasks.
Applying this to business trips, it looks like this.
In the past, even while traveling, I would have a part of my brain worrying about things like 'next is platform 3' or '5 minutes for the transfer.' This is a state where I was quietly using up my working memory. Now, I entrust that information to my smartphone, so my mind is quite free while I'm on the move.
What am I doing with that freed-up capacity? I'm using my brain for things like the people I'm meeting on the trip, the structure of the business negotiations, or research ideas that just popped into my head. In other words, I'm using my brain for things that only I can think about right now.
Anyone will arrive at the same answer for transfer information. But 'how to proceed with tomorrow's meeting' exists only in my head. By delegating what I can to my smartphone, I've become able to focus on thinking that only I can do.
Stopping the pre-trip research wasn't slacking off; it was moving my brain's memory 🏠
This is exactly like 'how to deal with AI' at work
Some of you reading this might have already realized it. This is the same structure as what is happening in our work today.
In my workplace, too, we have started delegating tasks like summarizing meeting minutes, creating drafts of materials, and routine research to generative AI. At first, I wondered if it was okay not to do it myself, but before I knew it, by letting go of those tasks, I was able to focus on 'what to argue in that document' or 'how to design the experiment.'
Whether it's entrusting transfer research to a smartphone or delegating routine tasks to generative AI, the root is the same 'cognitive offloading.' The essence of DX probably lies here. The goal is not to have tools take over your work, but to redirect your freed-up brain capacity toward 'thinking that only humans can do.' That is the goal.
However, it doesn't mean you should let go of everything
As a researcher, I want to properly look at the other side as well.
Research on cognitive offloading also includes this warning: relying too much on camera photography or GPS may weaken your memory of the content itself or your sense of spatial awareness.
I have personal experience with this. When I rely entirely on transit apps, I feel that my sense of geography—knowing where I am in the city—has become fuzzier than it used to be.
It's the same at work; if you use generative AI output without verifying it, that's not externalization, but 'thoughtless dumping.' What you should let go of are 'tasks with predetermined answers,' and you should still hold onto the parts that connect to your own judgment and experience.
In other words, externalization is not magic, but knowing when to use which. To summarize, it looks like this.
Things you can let go of: Reproducible information or tasks where anyone can reach the same answer if they look it up (transfer times, routine tasks, draft summaries, etc.)
Things you should hold onto: Memories connected to your own experience and judgment, sensory awareness of the moment, and thinking or verification that only you can produce
This connects perfectly to the stories of 'memory' and 'records' I've written about in this series. Entrust what you can to records (external), and carefully hold onto what should remain in memory (internal). I believe that people who can be conscious of that line are the ones who use their brains the most effectively.
If you fill the freed-up capacity by mindlessly scrolling through social media, it's just a waste. Externalization only has meaning if you can use that space for thinking that only you can do.
Summary: Your 'Slacking Off' Probably Isn't Slacking Off
If you've stopped doing the preparations you used to do properly and feel guilty about it—it might not be slacking off.
Your brain is making a smart decision that 'this can be stored externally,' freeing up capacity for more important things. There is a high possibility that this is a positive relocation.
The important thing is how you use the freed-up capacity. And whether you can choose for yourself what to let go of and what to hold onto. As long as you are conscious of that, we can get the best of both worlds from 'memory' and 'records'.
Next time you're tapping away on your smartphone in front of the ticket gate, if you can think, 'I'm using my brain's memory well right now,' don't you think your commute might become a little more fun?😊
For those who want to dig deeper📚
I'd like to introduce a book that supported me in writing this article.
'Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain' (by Maryanne Wolf / translated by Junko Komatsu, Intershift)
The author, a cognitive neuroscientist, unravels how the human brain acquired the ability to 'read' by crossing the fields of brain science, psychology, linguistics, and archaeology.
It is not a book that directly deals with smartphones or AI, but the perspective of **'how the human brain has changed since acquiring the external recording device of writing'** resonates deeply with the theme of 'externalization' in this article.
What's impressive is the episode where Socrates worried that 'relying on writing would weaken memory.' The guilt we feel when we entrust tasks to generative AI is actually a question that humanity has been asking for over two thousand years.
Recommended for people like this
Those who want to think about 'externalization' and 'memory' from the roots
Those who want to rethink how to deal with their own brains in the age of generative AI on a long historical scale
Those who want to fall in love again with the depth of the ordinary act of reading
Thank you for reading until the end.
I'm sure there's a positive relocation hidden in the things you've 'stopped doing' recently, too. Please let me know in the comments if you'd like🍀
#MemoryAndRecords #GenerativeAI #CognitiveOffloading #DX