LEARNING HUB

Research-led explanations of human capacity, learning and technological change. Start with the foundations, then follow the evidence and related ideas as the Learning Hub grows.

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The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: CHI 2025

A 2025 CHI study of 319 knowledge workers found that confidence in generative AI was associated with less self-reported critical-thinking enactment and lower perceived effort, while workers described a shift from producing work to verifying, integrating and stewarding AI output. The study is important, but it is a survey of perceived practice, not a causal test of whether generative AI erodes critical-thinking ability.

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Think-aloud protocols

Think-aloud protocols ask people to verbalize thoughts while performing a task. They can reveal process traces that outcomes alone cannot show, but what is spoken is partial, instruction-sensitive and sometimes reactive, so verbal report must never be treated as a transparent recording of the mind.

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Top-down attention

Top-down attention describes selection guided by current goals, expectations and task demands. It is a genuine form of control, but not an all-powerful command system: salience, history, bodily state and environmental structure continue to shape what reaches priority.

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Transfer of learning

How learning travels to new settings, why far-transfer claims need careful tests, and how practice can prepare future learning.

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Trauma

Trauma can refer to exposure, response or lasting consequences; these meanings should not be collapsed.

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