Filtered by category: The Conversation, tag: cognitive psychology × Clear
How does AI affect how we learn? A cognitive psychologist explains why you learn when the work is hard
Matched: AI
Early research on AI in education shows mixed results, with some benefits but also evidence of impaired critical thinking and over-reliance. Cognitive psychology offers useful context: learning requires effortful "System 2" thinking, and offloading that work to AI can weaken knowledge retention and cause students to overestimate their own understanding. While AI tutors that use Socratic questioning show some promise, they haven't consistently outperformed traditional study methods and introduce their own metacognitive pitfalls.