Study: Using ChatGPT to Write Essays May Increase ‘Cognitive Debt’
A recent study out of MIT Media Lab shows that students using ChatGPT and other AI tools to write essays may be acquiring “cognitive debt” at a higher rate than students using searching engines or only their brains.
According to the study, “Cognitive debt defers mental effort in the short term but results in long-term costs, such as diminished critical inquiry, increased vulnerability to manipulation, decreased creativity.”
The study divided participants into three groups. One was allowed to use LLMs (large-language models) to write their essays, another was allowed to use search engines, and the other was only allowed to use previous knowledge. The study refers to the latter as the “Brain-only group.” Researchers asked each group to write three essays using their designated tool. For a fourth essay, LLM users were only allowed to use their brains, and brain-only writers were allowed to use LLMs. One AI judge and several human teachers scored the essays. The researchers measured the electrical activity of the participants’ brains during each stage of the study.
The study showed significantly weaker brain connectivity in LLM users than in the brain-only group. In the fourth essay, LLM users continued to struggle with brain connectivity and struggled to quote their own work, while the brain-only group exhibited better brain connectivity and memory recall. “LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels,” the study says. (Read more from “Study: Using ChatGPT to Write Essays May Increase ‘Cognitive Debt’” HERE)
