2024-01-23 07:04:32
Working digitally puts a lot of strain on the brain. The use of AI tools like ChatGPT can also change processes at the top. What does this do to our control center?
Billions of networked nerve cells work in the brain, and different areas have different tasks. According to experts, digitalization is changing learning processes in the brain. And artificial intelligence (AI) also places new demands on the human control center with programs like ChatGPT. Psychologist and brain researcher Peter Gerjets from the Leibniz Institute for Knowledge Media in Tübingen assumes that ChatGPT and similar offerings will have a major impact on the education system. Meaningful, competent use is by no means a sure-fire success.
“It must not happen in the educational process that the active learning process is outsourced to ChatGPT and the brain is not challenged,” says the educational scientist on the International Day of Education on January 24th. “It’s important what happens in the head and what comes out as real learning achievement. Whether this happens with or without the support of GPT is ultimately not important.”
“Cognitive off-loading” Handing over cognitive work to AI is always linked to the question of whether this creates free space that the brain can use for other tasks. This was once also hotly debated when GPS navigation systems were introduced.
“The fact is: If a certain skill is no longer needed, the areas of the brain that implement that skill are weakened.” Gerjets gives the example: “If I use the calculator to divide, my results are much faster, but my ability to divide suffers and this affects the corresponding areas of the brain.” But that’s not a drama. “What is buried in the brain can be revived, so it is not lost.”
The researcher explains: Certain areas virtually “swell” when demands are particularly strong. “They’re getting bigger and denser.” And they shrink as the requirement decreases. Constant multitasking leads to brain exhaustion.
Prefrontal cortex more stressed
Even using technical devices such as tablets for digital learning requires extra attention and energy because, in addition to processing the content, operating the technology requires concentration, says neurobiologist Martin Korte from the TU Braunschweig. When scrolling across several pages and delving into hyperlinks, it is exhausting not to lose reference to the content and to regain an overview in your head. In particular, the prefrontal cortex in the frontal lobe – “the command center in the brain and the cockpit where all information comes together and tasks are distributed” – is significantly more stressed.
Since it is now foreseeable that AI will increasingly be added with tools like ChatGPT, the following applies even more: “If we are only passive spectators when learning through ready-made answers, learning is not sustainable,” says Korte. Activity is important – and so is being able to reflect on content and information. This then creates knowledge that is stored in the brain – which in turn “changes the circuitry, i.e. the structure of the brain.” An AI that is understood in terms of its strengths and weaknesses could be an asset. “But only if we – teachers and students – become smarter to the same extent that the machines become ‘smarter’,” emphasizes Korte.
AI use places additional demands on the brain
“Evaluating new information, selecting it, comparing sources – all of this is work for the frontal lobe of our brain. This ability to evaluate is becoming increasingly important,” emphasizes Gerjets. ChatGPT always gives the impression of having given a correct answer: “Linguistically smooth and well-formulated, in the fullest tone of conviction, but without citing the source. Many people find that credible. I think that is very worrying.”
Gerjets sees enormous opportunities for the education sector in AI tools like ChatGPT. These could have many advantages for students, for example when generating practice material and querying what they have learned. “However, you have a learning companion and conversation partner who you have to treat with caution, because he doesn’t know everything and sometimes delivers complete nonsense.”
It is not yet clear whether brain structures will change in the long term through the use of AI, says the Tübingen researcher. According to a Bitkom survey, a majority of 61 percent of all citizens in Germany are in favor of using AI in education, as the digital association reports.
A look at the universities
AI has also long since arrived in the university world. However, people in Bonn were recently surprised: A test by the Institute for Medical Didactics showed that in almost half of the cases, students were unable to correctly determine whether multiple-choice questions came from humans or AI. They also rated the difficulty of the tasks as practically identical, as the Bonn University Hospital describes. It was already known there that ChatGPT and similar tools can answer questions in state medical exams. The programs are also used to self-test the acquired knowledge. Now it seems that a promising tool for creating exam questions has been found for medical students.
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