{"id":4068,"date":"2025-11-04T11:23:41","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T03:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/?p=4068"},"modified":"2025-11-04T14:14:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T06:14:02","slug":"mit-researchers-say-using-chatgpt-can-rot-your-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/?p=4068","title":{"rendered":"MIT researchers say using ChatGPT can rot your brain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since ChatGPT appeared almost three years ago, the impact <\/strong>of artificial
intelligence (AI) technologies on learning<\/strong> has been widely debated<\/strong>. Are they handy<\/strong>
tools for personalized education, or gateways to<\/strong> academic dishonesty<\/strong>?

Most importantly, there has been concern<\/strong> that using AI will lead to a widespread<\/strong>
\u201cdumbing down<\/strong>\u201d or decline in the ability to think critically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If students use AI tools too early, the argument goes<\/strong>, they may not develop <\/strong>basic
skills for critical thinking and problem solving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that really the case<\/strong>? According to a recent study by scientists from MIT, it
appears so<\/strong>. Using ChatGPT to help write essays, the researchers say, can lead to
\u201ccognitive debt<\/strong>\u201d and a \u201clikely decrease<\/strong> in learning skills\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of<\/strong> four months, the MIT team asked 54 adults to write a series of three essays using either AI (ChatGPT), a search engine, or their own brains (\u201cbrain only\u201d group). The team measured cognitive engagement <\/strong>by examining electrical activity in the brain and through linguistic analysis<\/strong> of the essays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cognitive engagement of those who used AI was significantly lower<\/strong> than the
other two groups. This group also had a harder time recalling<\/strong> quotes from their
essays <\/strong>and felt a lower sense of ownership over them<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current and future generations need to be able to think critically and creatively and
solve problems. However, AI is changing what these things mean.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Producing<\/strong> essays with pen and paper is no longer a demonstration<\/strong> of critical thinking ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prioritizing<\/strong> which tasks can be offloaded<\/strong> to an AI to reduce cognitive debt is just as
important as understanding which tasks require genuine <\/strong>creativity and critical thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MIT<\/strong> – Massachusetts Institute of Technology \u9ebb\u7701\u7406\u5de5\u5b66\u9662
rot<\/strong> v. \u635f\u5bb3\u3001\u8150\u8680
impact<\/strong> n. \u5f71\u54cd\u3001\u4f5c\u7528
on learning<\/strong> \u5bf9\u5b66\u4e60\u65b9\u9762\u7684

debated<\/strong> \/d\u026a\u02c8be\u026at\u026ad\/ \u4e89\u8bba
handy<\/strong> \/\u02c8h\u00e6ndi\/ adj. \u65b9\u4fbf\u7684
gateways to<\/strong> \u901a\u5f80\u2026\u2026 \u7684\u9014\u5f84\u3001\u5f15\u53d1\u2026\u2026 \u7684\u5165\u53e3
academic dishonesty<\/strong> \/\u02cc\u00e6k\u0259\u02c8dem\u026ak d\u026as\u02c8\u0251\u02d0n\u026asti\/ \u5b66\u672f\u4e0d\u7aef

concern<\/strong> n. \u62c5\u5fe7\u3001\u987e\u8651
widespread <\/strong>\/\u02c8wa\u026adspred\/ adj. \u5e7f\u6cdb\u7684\uff1b\u666e\u904d\u7684
dumbing down<\/strong> \u201c\u601d\u7ef4\u9000\u5316\u3001\u667a\u529b\u964d\u4f4e\u201d
think critically <\/strong>\u662f\u56fa\u5b9a\u642d\u914d\uff0c— \u6279\u5224\u6027\u601d\u8003

the argument goes<\/strong> \u201c\u6709\u4eba\u8ba4\u4e3a\u3001\u89c2\u70b9\u662f\u201d\uff0c\u63d2\u5165\u8bed\uff0c\u7528\u4e8e\u5f15\u51fa\u4ed6\u4eba\u6216\u666e\u904d\u7684\u89c2\u70b9
develop <\/strong>\u9010\u6b65\u5f62\u6210\u3001\u57f9\u517b
Is that really the case?<\/strong> \u201c\u60c5\u51b5\u771f\u7684\u662f\u8fd9\u6837\u5417\uff1f
it appears so<\/strong> \u201c\u4f3c\u4e4e\u662f\u8fd9\u6837\u3001\u770b\u8d77\u6765\u786e\u5b9e\u5982\u6b64\u201d

cognitive debt<\/strong> \u201c\u8ba4\u77e5\u8d1f\u503a\u201d\uff0c\u5b66\u672f\u6027\u672f\u8bed \/\u02c8k\u0251\u02d0\u0261n\u0259t\u026av\/ adj.
likely decrease<\/strong> \u201c\u53ef\u80fd\u7684\u4e0b\u964d\u201d\uff0c \/d\u026a\u02c8kri\u02d0s\/
Over the course of<\/strong> \u201c\u5728\u2026\u2026 \u7684\u8fc7\u7a0b\u4e2d\u201d
engagement<\/strong> \/\u026an\u02c8\u0261e\u026ad\u0292m\u0259nt\/ \u6295\u5165

linguistic analysis<\/strong> \u201c\u8bed\u8a00\u5206\u6790\u201d \/l\u026a\u014b\u02c8\u0261w\u026ast\u026ak\/ adj. \u8bed\u8a00\u7684\uff1b\u8bed\u8a00\u5b66\u7684
significantly lower<\/strong> \u201c\u663e\u8457\u66f4\u4f4e\u201d
had a harder time recalling<\/strong> \u201c\u66f4\u96be\u56de\u5fc6\u8d77\u201d\uff0c\u201chave a hard time doing sth\u201d \u4e3a\u56fa\u5b9a\u642d\u914d
quotes from their essays<\/strong> \u4f5c\u6587\u4e2d\u7684\u5f15\u8bed

sense of ownership<\/strong> \u201c\u5f52\u5c5e\u611f\u201d
over them<\/strong> \u201c\u5bf9\u5b83\u4eec\u800c\u8a00\u201d\uff0cover \u201c\u9488\u5bf9\u3001\u5173\u4e8e\u201d
is changing what these things mean<\/strong> \u201c\u6b63\u5728\u6539\u53d8\u8fd9\u4e9b\u80fd\u529b\u7684\u542b\u4e49\u201d
demonstration<\/strong> n. \u201c\u4f53\u73b0\u3001\u5c55\u793a\u201d\uff0c\u6bd4 \u201cshow\u201d \u66f4\u6b63\u5f0f \/\u02ccdem\u0259n\u02c8stre\u026a\u0283n\/
producing<\/strong> \u64b0\u5199
Prioritizing \/pra\u026a\u02c8\u0254\u02d0r\u0259ta\u026az\u026a\u014b\/<\/strong> <\/strong>\u201c\u4f18\u5148\u8003\u8651\u3001\u786e\u5b9a\u4f18\u5148\u7ea7
offload <\/strong>\u201c\u8f6c\u79fb\u3001\u5206\u62c5\u201d
genuine <\/strong> \/\u02c8d\u0292enju\u026an\/ adj. \u771f\u6b63\u7684\uff1b\u771f\u8bda\u7684\uff1b\u771f\u7684<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since ChatGPT appeared almost three years ago, the impact of artificialintelligence (AI) technologies on learning has been widely debated. Are they handytools for personalized education, or gateways to academic dishonesty? Most importantly, there has been concern that using AI will lead to a widespread\u201cdumbing down\u201d or decline in the ability to think critically. If students […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31,43,29],"class_list":["post-4068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","tag-english","tag-essay","tag-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4068"}],"version-history":[{"count":60,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4144,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4068\/revisions\/4144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}