Learning and Cognitive Development in the Age of AI

Human cognition is being reshaped as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into everyday life and cognitive work. This Research Topic will offer cutting-edge synthesis and theoretical articles addressing how human cognitive systems adapt, learn, and develop alongside artificial intelligence. Understanding these processes is both timely and practically important. AI is being integrated into our daily environments, and the long-term cognitive consequences of this integration may be undesirable. For that reason, this Research Topic will put special emphasis on cognitive and neural reorganization, learning, and decision-making frameworks. The topic is timely: artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming human society and increasingly carrying out tasks once performed exclusively by people, from problem-solving to reasoning and decision-making. The future of work and life is likely to involve a hybrid of human and artificial intelligence, which raises important scientific and normative questions about the nature of human adaptation.This Research Topic aims to understand and explain how AI-assisted environments influence human cognition and the mechanisms through which these changes take place. We invite contributions from cognitive neuroscientists, psychologists, and developmental scientists who can weigh in on this timely topic and address how human cognitive functions evolve in response to AI-assisted environments. Our goal is not only to understand the influence of AI on cognition, but also to explain it. We see this topic as a test case for a more comprehensive understanding of neuroplasticity and cognitive reorganization. More broadly, this is an opportunity to examine how human cognitive systems flexibly update representations, strategies, and learning pathways in general, while focusing on the special case in which AI becomes a collaborator or cognitive partner. Evolutionary and cognitive perspectives suggest that humans can adjust to new ecological and cultural conditions, but it remains unclear how these adaptive capacities function at the cognitive and developmental levels. Addressing this question will also help us understand the normative dimension, whether the changes introduced by human - AI interaction are those that societies should or wish to live with.This Research Topic takes a broadly interdisciplinary approach. Submissions may address adaptation processes at multiple levels, from neural plasticity and individual learning mechanisms to developmental pathways and social learning influenced by AI. Contributions may examine how AI systems support or hinder human learning, how cognitive functions reorganize in response to AI assistance, or how exposure to AI in childhood and adolescence shapes developmental trajectories. However, this Research Topic will primarily emphasize theory-driven and synthetic contributions rather than narrow empirical ones. To gather further insights, we welcome manuscripts addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:- Cognitive and neural reorganization in response to AI integration- Mechanisms of learning, predictive coding, and plasticity in AI-assisted environments- Developmental and social learning trajectories under sustained AI exposure- Cognitive and theoretical models of human–AI collaboration and co-adaptation- Normative and conceptual perspectives on desirable cognitive futures Topic editors: Hans Van Eyghen, Michał Klincewicz, Sashank Varma Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81974/learning-and-cognitive-development-in-the-age-of-ai