Marit Brademann

Topic: AI as a Catalyst for Cognitive Offloading: How does the current education policy landscape address cognitive development challenges imposed by AI tools?

Abstract

This research project addresses current education policy considerations about the impacts of cognitive offloading on the development of critical thinking. It aims to summarize the current state of research on cognitive offloading as well as that of the education policy landscape in digital education and AI Literacy. The results of this study shall benefit policy makers, educators and parents in the format of a policy brief.
Introduction

When humans externalise internal cognitive processes, they deploy a strategy called “Cognitive Offloading”. This strategy is an essential manoeuvre to free up cognitive capacities from lower cognitive processes, such as memorizing , to enable and operate higher cognitive processes, such as critical thinking. With the advent of the internet as a massive external storage device, studies demonstrated a damaging impact on memorization performance, called the “Google Effect” (Sparrow et al., 2011). When Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), specifically Large Language Models, were released to the public in the early 2020s, the cognitive offloading toolbox was vastly extended. Few studies have since then been conducted to understand the effects of cognitive offloading catalysed by GenAI but one could show a negative correlation between using GenAI tools and critical thinking. It also showed that higher age and education mitigated this effect (Moore & Gerlich, 2025). Educators have started to frame this effect as “skill erosion” with negative conseuqences for personal growth and adult independence (Altinpulluk, 2025; Yiğit, 2025). Provided that critical thinking is a skill that children and youth learn through parenting, schooling and higher education, this research project will lay out the current understanding of transactive cognitive offloading in an educational context and its effects on short, as well as long-term cognitive development.

In this context, it will summarize known associated risks, possible opportunities and recommended mitigation strategies for children and youth in digital education. Pre-study activities have revealed the existence of such recommendation and the study aims to gather all views and recommendations that currently prevail (Altinpulluk, 2025; Yiğit, 2025). In addition, the project will examine existing European policy recommendations and guidelines if and respectively how they incorporate a) the concept of cognitive offloading, b) existing recommendations and c) elaborate on neighbouring concepts . In the pre-study phase, the review of policy papers from The European Schools (Office of the Secretary-General, 2025), The European Commission (AI Report, 2023; Conrads et al., 2017), OECD (Issroff et al., 2021) and UNESCO (International Commission on the Futures of Education, 2021) did not indicate any positioning related to cognitive offloading.

Thus, the main hypotheses of this research project is that cognitive offloading has not yet attained epistemic value in european education policy making, and therefore no mentioning in policy recommendation or guidelines in digital education and AI Literacy.

To fill this gap, this project aims to summarize the current scientific understanding of cognitive offloading on cognitive development as risks and opportunities. Respectively it will list existing mitigation recommendations as formulated by the scientific community. Assuming that the hypotheses will be confirmed, the research project serves the main goal to provide policy consultants, educators and parents with an initial set of research insights and tangible policy recommendation, as well as a discussion for further poilcy avenues in the format of a policy brief. The research is not bound to transnational policy documents since its goal is to inform about the problem, gather insights and find existing mitigation recommendations and strategies, regardless of their original radius.

Methodology

To address the summary of the current scientific understanding, the selected pre-study literature will be extended and complemented with additional studies from 2020 onwards. Literature will be selected based on key terms (cognitive offloading, overreliance, brain passivity, extended mind, cognitive agency, critical thinking), as well as literature recommendations for similar literature on publishing outlets. The goal is to review 7-15 papers on the topic.

Secondly, summarizing the landscape of current policy about cognitive offloading in digital education strategies will be enlarged by additional documents from the European national level, and possibly to even narrower focus (e.g. municipal or single institution level). Since the pre-study document screening indicated that the transnational landscape has no mentioning on the topic, it occurs to be useful to descend to lower policy-making levels to continue the research. The goal is to review 10-20 documents.

Third, the project reserves the option to conduct semi-structured interviews with scientists, and policy consultants to support existing research (both from the literature and policy documents review) with first-hand experience, and recommendations. The interviews will be optional and will not exceed 3-4 conversations.

Summaries

This research project addresses the current non-existing education policy considerations on the impacts of cognitive offloading on the development of critical thinking. It aims to summarize the current state of research on cognitive offloading as well as that of the education policy landscape in digital education and AI Literacy. The results of this study shall benefit policy makers, educators and parents in the format of a policy brief.
 
References

AI report: by the European Digital Education Hub’s Squad on artificial intelligence in education. (2023). Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2797/828281
Altinpulluk, H. (2025). The Silent Erosion: How AI in Education Undermines Essential Skills. Policy and Practice for Ethical AI Integration in Education, 197–218. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3373-7569-4.CH006
Conrads, J., Rasmussen, M., Winters, N., Geniet, A., Langer, L., Redecker, C., Kampylis, P., Bacigalupo, M., & Punie, Y. (2017). Digital Education Policies in Europe and Beyond: Key Design Principles for More Effective Policies. Key Design Principles for More Effective Policies, (10), 978–992. https://doi.org/10.2760/462941
Issroff, K., Miller, K., Berkowitz, M., Luckin, R., & C Bier, M. (2021). Future of Education and Skills 2030: Conceptual Learning Framework. https://one.oecd.org/document/EDU/EDPC(2018)45/ANN2/en/pdf
International Commission on the Futures of Education. (2021). Reimagining our futures together: a new social contract for education – UNESCO Digital Library. Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379707.locale=en
Moore, L. J., & Gerlich, M. (2025). AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15010006
Office of the Secretary-General. (2025). Legal and pedagogical guidelines for the educational use of generative artificial intelligence in the European Schools.
Risko, E. F., & Gilbert, S. J. (2016). Cognitive Offloading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(9), 676–688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.07.002
Sparrow, B., Liu, J., & Wegner, D. M. (2011). Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips. Science, 333(6043), 776–778. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27978404
Yiğit, M. F. (2025). The silent skill erosion: Cognitive offloading in the age of educational AI. In Theoretical and applied research in educational sciences (pp. 32–43). Duvar Yayınları. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397173967_The_silent_skill_erosion_Cognitive_offloading_in_the_age_of_educational_AI