Human Cognition Protection against GenAI

This work explores the impact of GenAI on fundamental aspects of human cognition and how other societal factors, such as heightened stress levels and information overload, interact with these effects.

The rapid adoption of Generative AI (GenAI) is significantly reshaping human cognition, influencing how we engage with information, think, reason, and learn. We synthesize existing literature on GenAI’s effects on different aspects of human cognition.

Overview

We begin by synthesizing the existing literature on the impacts of GenAI on human cognition to delineate the various dimensions of cognition that are being influenced. Building on this, we draw upon Krathwohl’s revised Bloom’s Taxonomy and Dewey’s seminal work, How We Think to explore the underlying reasons for the observed effects on human cognition. Accordingly, we propose adopting Dewey’s conceptualization of critical thinking—as reflective thinking—to both evaluate the impact of GenAI on learners’ critical thinking and inform the design of interventions aimed at fostering critical thinking. Further, we provide insights on applying Dewey’s framework to support the evolving nature of thinking and learning.

More information

ArXiv link.