A computer network model of human transactive memory

Several of the design factors that must be considered in linking computers together into networks are also relevant to the ways in which individual human memory systems are linked into group memory systems. These factors include directory updating (learning who knows what in the group), information allocation (assigning memory items to group members), and retrieval coordination (planning how to find items in a way that takes advantage of who knows what). When these processes operate effectively in a group, the group's transactive memory is likely to be effective.