“#LLM group's participants performed worse than their counterparts in the Brain-only group at all levels: neural, linguistic, scoring.”

Use it or lose it.

Overview ‹ Your #Brain on #ChatGPT — MIT Media Lab https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/your-brain-on-chatgpt/overview/

#Checklists have massive benefit in #aviation, #engineering, and #medicine.

Now #cognitiveScience has a list of 51 simple yes-no questions (from experts around the world) to design and assess #research — its quality, #reproducibility, etc.

https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-025-02705-3

In my latest Theory of Change episode, I spoke with political scientist Eric Oliver about his research showing that American political divides reflect cognitive divides between "intuitionists" who think with their guts and "rationalists" who prefer abstract thinking.

His book predicted the RFK-Trump synthesis so is worth much discussion. https://plus.flux.community/p/americas-political-divide-is-psychological

The educator panic over AI is real, and rational.
I've been there myself. The difference is I moved past denial to a more pragmatic question: since AI regulation seems unlikely (with both camps refusing to engage), how do we actually work with these systems?

The "AI will kill critical thinking" crowd has a point, but they're missing context.
Critical reasoning wasn't exactly thriving before AI arrived: just look around. The real question isn't whether AI threatens thinking skills, but whether we can leverage it the same way we leverage other cognitive tools.

We don't hunt our own food or walk everywhere anymore.
We use supermarkets and cars. Most of us Google instead of visiting libraries. Each tool trade-off changed how we think and what skills matter. AI is the next step in this progression, if we're smart about it.

The key is learning to think with AI rather than being replaced by it.
That means understanding both its capabilities and our irreplaceable human advantages.

1/3

AI isn't going anywhere. Time to get strategic:
Instead of mourning lost critical thinking skills, let's build on them through cognitive delegation—using AI as a thinking partner, not a replacement.

This isn't some Silicon Valley fantasy:
Three decades of cognitive research already mapped out how this works:

Cognitive Load Theory:
Our brains can only juggle so much at once. Let AI handle the grunt work while you focus on making meaningful connections.

Distributed Cognition:
Naval crews don't navigate with individual genius—they spread thinking across people, instruments, and procedures. AI becomes another crew member in your cognitive system.

Zone of Proximal Development
We learn best with expert guidance bridging what we can't quite do alone. AI can serve as that "more knowledgeable other" (though it's still early days).
The table below shows what this looks like in practice:

2/3

Critical reasoning vs Cognitive Delegation

Old School Focus:

Building internal cognitive capabilities and managing cognitive load independently.

Cognitive Delegation Focus:

Orchestrating distributed cognitive systems while maintaining quality control over AI-augmented processes.

We can still go for a jog or go hunt our own deer, but for reaching the stars we, the Apes do what Apes do best: Use tools to build on our cognitive abilities. AI is a tool.

3/3

The #Yogācāra school's eightfold model of #consciousness (#vijñāna) offers a detailed Buddhist framework for understanding perception, identity, and delusion. By analyzing layers from sensory awareness to the unconscious "#storehouse" (#ĀlayaVijñāna), it provides a unique #psychoanalytic system without a permanent self (#anatta):

https://www.fabriziomusacchio.com/weekend_stories/told/2025/2025-06-07-vijnanas/

HOW MEMORY WORKS—and how it goes wrong—explored clearly and beautifully by two distinguished researchers. The implications for misinformation, disinformation, and subconscious bias are discussed along with relevant experiments. Great stuff! A MINUS

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/memory-lane-ciara-greene/1145650349?ean=9780691257099

@bookstodon

#Fediverse, I need your help! I am looking for examples of articles from different disciplines in cognitive sciences that focus on the idea that two brains experience and interpret the same input differently. For instance, the Yanny/Laurel phenomenon (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29990455/), or the different decision-making strategies (https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/089533005775196732). Any ideas? #cognitivescience

This episode with Joscha Bach was really impressive.

This is one of the very few episodes I did not listen to with double speed - so much content and brilliant thoughts.

#ArtificialIntelligence #Consciousness #CognitiveScience #SPRIND #science

@sprind_de

https://www.sprind.org/worte/podcasts/100-joscha-bach

https://www.europesays.com/2050792/ Benton Community Boosts Science Learning with STEM Grant | #america #BehaviorModification #BranchesOfScience #cognition #CognitiveScience #education #EducationTheory #HumanCommunication #intelligence #learning #LiberalArtsEducation #neuroscience #pedagogy #PrimateBehavior #ProceduralKnowledge #science #teaching #technology #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #US #USA

“The resource-rationality idea gives a cognitive science explanation for why CBT methods work: they align with how the brain naturally tries to balance mental effort and emotional benefit.”#cognitivebehavioraltherapy #mentalhealth #cognitivescience #psychotherapy #psychedelicassistedpsychotherapy #learning https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58848-6?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=topic%2Fconsciousness

There's still some room left for this year's ABC Summer School, held in May!

See:
https://summerschool.uva.nl/content/summer-courses/abc-summerschool/neurotechnology.html

A 20-minute game of Tetris reduced traumatic memories in pandemic frontline workers

https://www.psypost.org/a-20-minute-game-of-tetris-reduced-traumatic-memories-in-pandemic-frontline-workers/

Viewing Art Boosts Wellbeing

https://neurosciencenews.com/art-eudemonic-wellbeing-28658/

This one is finally out!

We introduce g-distance, a measure we derive with Set Theory that assesses model adequacy by comparing the range of behaviours exhibited by models to that of humans. #computationalmodeling
#cognitivescience

https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/rev0000550