ChatGPT May Be Impacting Your Brain

A new study led by researchers at MIT titled “Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task” offers a revealing window into what may happen when we rely on AI for cognitively demanding tasks like essay writing.

Using electroencephalograms (EEGs) of the brain, linguistic analysis, and post-task interviews, the researchers found that using ChatGPT weakened participants’ neural connectivity, memory, and sense of ownership over their writing. While AI use allowed tasks to feel easier, the lack of effort required could, over time, dull cognition, critical thinking, and creativity.

This leads to a long-term concern that is so far unanswered: As we increasingly outsource cognitive processes to AI, will this impact our neuroplasticity, growth, critical thinking skills, and learning capacity over time?

New Brain Research on ChatGPT Use and "Cognitive Debt"

Researchers divided 54 student participants into three groups and assessed them over four months:

• ChatGPT/LLM group: Used ChatGPT exclusively for essay writing
• Search Engine group: Used traditional web searches like Google (no AI)
• Brain-only group: Wrote essays using only their memory and reasoning

Each group wrote essays based on SAT prompts. In an optional fourth surprise session, participants switched: Some LLM users had to write without AI, while some Brain-only participants were newly introduced to ChatGPT.

Here are the key findings from the study:

• Neural activity and connectivity was lower with AI use. The more AI assistance used, the less engaged key brain networks were—especially those involved in memory, attention, and executive function.
• AI users retained less. Most ChatGPT users struggled to accurately quote from their own essays, unlike those who used only their brains or traditional search.
• Sense of authorship dropped with AI use. AI users had a more mixed sense of authorship, with some participants claiming full ownership and others denying it.
• Satisfaction with their essays was mixed for the AI group and consistently higher for the search engine group.

The researchers named this effect “cognitive debt," referencing how repeated reliance on AI systems may impair cognitive processes behind independent thinking. This cognitive debt illustrates that the short-term benefit of productivity and lower mental effort may lead to long-term costs in lower critical thinking, creativity, learning, and memory.

The Flattening Effect of AI

The essays themselves were also more homogeneous within the AI group, while the brain-only group had more diverse answers. The search engine group was heavily influenced by search engine-optimized content.

Interestingly, human teachers were able to detect patterns of AI-generated content and scored them lower in originality and structure, but AI-powered judges gave higher scores to AI-generated essays.

Could AI Replacement Reduce Neuroplasticity?

Cognitive effort fosters active growth and neuroplasticity. Much as in psychotherapy, the process of working through emotional conflict or grappling with complex thoughts fosters psychological integration and insight. Similarly, cognitive challenge in learning tasks strengthens neural pathways, boosts memory, and builds critical thinking.

When we bypass cognitive effort with AI, we may be undermining our own:

• Cognitive resilience: Mental endurance is built by effort, not avoidance.
• Metacognitive awareness: Thinking about thinking, which is essential to learning and self-awareness, declines when AI does the heavy lifting.
• Memory encoding and consolidation: Memory is tied to attention, effort, and repetition. AI reliance may interrupt this process.

The solution is not necessarily to avoid using AI, but to find a way to use it that minimizes this cognitive debt.

Clinical Takeaways for AI Users

Shift passive learning to collaborative and active engagement. Letting AI write or think for you may feel efficient but could undermine long-term critical thinking and creativity. Considering collaborative and active learning processes that integrate AI could be more helpful for enhancing neuroplasticity.

Vary modes of learning. AI can be a helpful starting point, but engaging the mind by researching, examining, and expanding the material afterward is important. For example, if using AI for writing, staying active by revising, critiquing, or rewriting in your own words could help reduce long-term cognitive debt.

Check for cognitive numbness and overuse. If you no longer feel mentally challenged or curious after using AI, it could be digital numbing. This could signal overuse and may be time to reassess.

Balance ease with effort. Choose which tasks you automate and rely on AI carefully. Just as with training muscles, the "use it or lose it" saying is relevant. While stimulating the brain requires effort, this challenge improves neuroplasticity and memory.

Mindful AI Collaborations

AI systems can be very helpful and effective, but this study also highlights the potential long-term cognitive debt that could accumulate from overreliance on AI for certain tasks. Although more research is required to study long-term effects, repeated overreliance on AI for important brain health-promoting cognitive tasks could limit cognition, memory, and creativity, given that challenge and stimulation are essential for neuroplasticity and learning at all ages.

Some key tasks, like creative or cognitive ones, may be worth investing more energy and effort, while considering collaborative approaches with AI rather than replacement by AI.

Marlynn Wei, MD, PLLC © Copyright 2025 All Rights Reserved.

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