ABSTRACT
If asked to think for a moment about everyday situations that involve the use of memory, many of the situations that come to mind will contain an interpersonal, collaborative component. Humans are social creatures, which means that a large proportion of their cognitive processes take place within social settings. So what are the effects of social interactions on cognitive processes? The common adages ``two heads are better than one'' and ``too many cooks spoil the broth'' highlight interesting patterns of human behaviour. They suggest that in some situations the presence of other people facilitates performance, while in others it hinders. The ®eld of social psychology has long been interested in this phenomenon. The classic conformity studies of Asch (1956) and obedience studies of Milgram (1963) draw attention to the detrimental effects that social interactions can have on an individual's performance. However it is only fairly recently that cognitive psychologists (in particular memory researchers) have embraced the idea that the mere presence of others may have an impact on an individual's performance. Memory research has traditionally tested individual participants in isolation. This is because memory processes have generally been regarded as an ``intrapersonal phenomenon''. While this approach has generated valuable models of human memory processes, it has disregarded any in¯uences that social interactions may have on such memory processes. This is the focus of collaborative memory research.
