Two investigations examined how college students perceived the utility of commercial memory aids. In investigation 1 the participants rated the perceived utility of a wide range of commercial external aids. The commercial aids rated as most useful were ones that served an encoding function. In general, the participants viewed the aids as somewhat more useful to themselves than they would be to other people. A review of the literature and Investigation 2 showed that the utility of commercial memory aids varies with three kinds of individual differences: those pertaining to demographic characteristics (age, gender); personality (conscientiousness, desire for control, agreeableness, fearfulness); and past experience (such as having a consistent or chaotic schedule). As the world relies more on technology, proper understanding of cognition in everyday life will increasingly require research that clarifies why people do or do not make good use of commercial memory aids.

Key words: external aids, individual differences