Research area 02 · Active
AI and Human Cognition
The cognitive implications of generative AI and large language models for thinking, learning and judgement.
Overview
Question and approach.
Core question
How may increasing reliance on generative AI relate to human cognition, decision-making and educational practice?
Approach
Examines generative AI and large language models as a specific and rapidly adopted case of cognitive offloading, with attention to critical thinking, learning and decision-making.
Focus
Generative systems differ from earlier aids in that they return fluent, plausible output for open-ended tasks. That changes the nature of the check a user has to perform, and it changes how easy it is to skip the check entirely.
The area asks what this means for the cognitive work that education is meant to develop, and how practice might be designed so that the tool supports judgement rather than replacing it.
Status
An active interest recorded on the public ORCID record. Related to the executive offloading work rather than a separate programme.
Evidence — Described on the public ORCID record.