外刊研读|AI 致人变笨？MIT 证实：使用期间大脑活跃度暴跌 55%

当下各类 AI 对话软件已深入大众日常，许多人习惯将思考、写作及解题等脑力劳动直接托付给 AI 处理。多项权威实验表明，长期把脑力任务外包给大语言模型，会显著抑制大脑活跃度、削弱记忆功能与独立思辨力，甚至埋下思维退化的隐患。

FromBBC

1

As large languagemodelstake over more and morecognitivetasks, researchers are warning thismental outsourcingcomes with a cost.

When research scientist Nataliya Kosmyna was looking for interns, she noticed that cover letters she received weresuspiciouslysimilar. They were long,polishedand after introductions would often jump to anabstractandarbitraryconnection to her work.

It was obvious to her thatapplicantswere using large language models to write the letters. At the same time, during campus lessons, she noticednumerousstudents were forgetting content more easilycomparedto a few years ago.

With the increasingrelianceon LLMs, she had ahunchthat this could be affecting her students' cognition and sought to understand more.

The concern that researchers have is that if we become too reliant on AI, it could affect the language we use and even ourabilityto dobasiccognitivetasks.There is now a growing body of research suggesting that this cognitive offloading to AI can have acorrosiveeffect on our mental abilities. Theconsequencescould bealarmingand may evencontributeto cognitivedecline.

随着大语言模型接管越来越多的认知类任务，学者们发出预警：这种脑力外包行为代价惨重。科研人员在招募实习生时察觉，收到的求职信内容雷同度极高，文笔虽流畅工整，但在自我介绍后常生硬地关联到个人研究领域。她一眼便看出求职者利用大语言模型代笔。与此同时，在高校授课中，她发现现今学生比几年前更容易遗忘所学内容。鉴于对大语言模型的依赖日益加深，她直觉认为这正在侵蚀学生的认知能力，遂决定深入探究。研究人员忧虑，人类若过度依赖 AI，不仅会改变语言使用习惯，更会丧失完成基础脑力任务的能力。大量研究指出，将思考转嫁给 AI 会逐步腐蚀人类心智，引发令人不安的后果，甚至导致认知衰退。

高频词汇:

cognitive认知的；outsourcing外包；model模型；mental脑力的；suspiciously反常地；polished流畅得体的；abstract抽象的；arbitrary牵强随意的；applicant申请者；numerous众多的；compare对比；reliance依赖；hunch直觉预感；basic基础的；ability能力；task事务；corrosive侵蚀性的；consequence后果；alarming令人担忧的；contribute促成；decline衰退

长难句分析

The concern that researchers have is that if we become too reliant on AI, it could affect the language we use and even our ability to do basic cognitive tasks.

The concern is that it could affect the language and our ability为句子主干；that researchers have定语从句修饰主语concern；第二个that引导表语从句；if引导条件状语从句嵌入表语从句内；and连接并列宾语。

2

It's well known that the tools we use can change how we think. With theadventof the internet, tasks that once requireddeepresearch could be found by plugging a simple query into a search box.As the use ofsearch enginesincreased, research found we became less likely to rememberdetails, somethingdubbed"the Google effect".

But there is now growing alarm that as weoffloadeven more of our thinking to AI, the effects on ourmemoriesand ability to solve problems could get worse.Artificial intelligence tools can writeconvincing poetry, givefinancialadvice and providecompanionship. Students areincreasinglyoutsourcing their own work to AI tools as well.

Studies have already shown that young people might be particularlyvulnerableto thenegativeeffects that using AI can have on key cognitive skills likecritical thinking.

众所周知，日常使用的工具会重塑人的思维模式。互联网普及后，昔日需深度钻研的内容，如今只需简单搜索即可获取。随着搜索引擎使用愈发频繁，研究发现人们越来越难记住细节，这一现象被称为“谷歌效应”。如今人们愈发担忧，若将更多独立思考转交给 AI，记忆力与解决问题的能力恐将进一步恶化。人工智能工具不仅能创作优质诗文、提供理财建议，还能提供陪伴。越来越多的学生也开始将学业任务外包给 AI 工具。已有研究证实，青少年群体受负面影响尤为严重，使用 AI 会削弱其批判性思维等关键认知技能。

高频词汇：

advent问世普及；deep深度的；search搜索；engine引擎；detail细节

；dub称作；memory记忆力；offload转交；convincing令人信服的；poetry诗文；financial理财的；companionship陪伴；increasingly愈发地；vulnerable易受影响的；negative负面的；critical thinking批判性思维

长难句分析

Studies have already shown that young people might be particularly vulnerable to the negative effects that using AI can have on key cognitive skills like critical thinking.

Studies have already shown that young people might be vulnerable to the negative effects为句子主干；that引导宾语从句作shown的宾语；第二个that引导定语从句修饰effects；on key cognitive skills作范围状语；like critical thinking作举例后置定语。

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She and her colleaguesrecruited54 students to write short essays andsplitthem into three groups forbrainwaveobservationduring writing.

Those who used their own minds showedwidespreadbrain activity, the search engine group kept partial brain activity, while the ChatGPT group showednotablyless brain activityreducedby up to 55%.

The brain didn't fall asleep, but there was much lessactivationin the areascorrespondingtocreativityand toprocessing information.

ChatGPT also affected people's memories. Users were unable toquotefrom their essays, and several felt they had noownershipover the work.Other studies have also shown that people become less able toretainandrecallinformation when they use AI tools.

Some people undergo something termed cognitivesurrenderwhen usinggenerativeAI chatbots. They tend to accept AI answers withminimal scrutinyandoverridetheir ownintuition.

她与团队招募 54 名学生进行短文写作实验，将参与者分为三组，全程监测写作时的脑电波变化。独立思考写作的学生大脑活跃度广泛，使用搜索引擎者保留部分脑部活动，而使用 ChatGPT 者的大脑活跃度显著降低，最高降幅达 55%。大脑并未休眠，但负责创造力与信息处理的区域活跃度大幅减弱。ChatGPT 同样影响记忆，用户无法复述自己写的内容，甚至对作品毫无归属感。其他研究也证实，使用 AI 工具会让人留存和调取信息的能力下降。部分人在使用生成式 AI 聊天机器人时会出现“认知投降”，倾向于不加审视地接受 AI 答案，放弃自身直觉。

高频词汇：

recruit招募；split划分；observation观测；brainwave脑电波；widespread广泛的；notably显著地；reduce下降；activation激活活跃度；correspond对应；creativity创造力；process处理；information信息；quote引用复述；ownership归属感；retain留存记忆；recall回想调取；surrender顺从懈怠；generative生成式的；scrutiny审视思考；override摒弃；intuition直觉；minimal极少的

长难句分析

Those who used their own minds showed widespread brain activity, the search engine group kept partial brain activity, while the ChatGPT group showed notably less brain activity reduced by up to 55%.

三个并列分句构成整句主干；who used their own minds为定语从句修饰主语Those；while引导对比状语从句；reduced by up to 55%为过去分词短语作后置定语，补充说明脑活动降幅。

4

Medicalprofessionalsrelying on AI tools alsograduallylose the ability to makeindependentprofessionaljudgmentswithout machineassistance.

Outsourcing work to AI also risks losing much of thecreativitythatproduces originalwork, AI-written articles aresoullessand lack originality anddepth.

Long-term overuse of AI will lead toinsufficientmental exercise,weakenbrain cognitive power, and even raise the risk of future cognitiveagingand decline.

Only less than 10% of people cancorrectlyuse AI as datacollectiontools, think independently aftersortinginformation, andachievemoreaccurateresults.

We should buildsolidknowledgefoundationsbyindependentlearning first, and then use AI asauxiliarylearning tools instead ofreplacingthinking.

People can usereasonableways tointeractwith AI,stimulatetheir own thinking, and form ahybridintelligence modecombininghuman thinking and artificial intelligence assistance.

就连医疗从业者长期依赖 AI 工具后，脱离机器辅助便难以做出独立的专业判断。将工作外包给 AI 也意味着丧失原创力，AI 生成的文章往往空洞乏味，缺乏新意与深度。长期过度使用 AI 会导致脑力锻炼不足，削弱认知能力，甚至增加未来思维老化与衰退的风险。仅有不到 10% 的人能正确将 AI 作为数据搜集工具，在整理信息后独立思考，从而得出更精准的结果。我们应先通过自主学习夯实知识基础，再将 AI 视为辅助工具，而非替代思考。人们应掌握合理的 AI 互动方式，激发自身思考，构建人类思维与智能辅助相结合的混合智能模式。

高频词汇：

professional专业从业者；judgment判断；assistance辅助；independent独立的；gradually逐步地；original原创的；soulless空洞无内涵的；depth思想深度；produce创作；creativity创作力；insufficient不足的；weaken削弱；aging老化；correctly合理地；collection收集；sort整理；accurate精准的；achieve达成；solid扎实的；foundation基础；auxiliary辅助的；replace替代；independent自主的；stimulate激发；interact互动使用

；reasonable合理的；hybrid融合式的；combine结合

长难句分析

Only less than 10% of people can correctly use AI as data collection tools, think independently after sorting information, and achieve more accurate results.

Only less than 10% of people can use AI, think independently and achieve more accurate results为句子主干；as data collection tools作宾语补足语；after sorting information作时间状语；三个并列谓语连贯陈述人群使用AI的正确做法。

AI 聊天机器人虽为生活学习带来便利，但若长期全盘依赖、将脑力思考完全交由 AI，会直接抑制大脑活跃度，损害记忆力、创造力及思辨能力，最终导致思维退化。真正高效的使用策略是：先自主思考夯实基础，将 AI 仅作为查资料、拓思路的辅助，借助其完善观点而非照搬答案。唯有坚持主动用脑，方能长久守护大脑活力。

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参考链接

https://www.bbc.com/future