@tainab : The algorithmic imaginary: exploring the ordinary affects of... Motivation, social & cultural, emotional and personal barriers can all affect a school student’s abilitytolearn. This post explores these learning barriers. If smartphones are harming ourabilityto focus, how should teachers change their methods to give children the skills they need? Today’s students have a problem, and it’s not the one written on the board. Childhood experiences may shape not just what we learn, but also how well we learn. PhD student Cleanthis Michael uses longitudinal data and neuroimaging to investigate how factors like parenting styles and neighborhood wealth may impact neuroplasticity. If we drink consistently, our short term AND long term memory are not only affected while we drink, but our brain’s abilitytogrow and blossom is affected well past the time that we down that last shot of chilled Fireball. While LLMs offer immediate convenience, our findings highlight potential cognitive costs. Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. Much of our intrinsic curiosity gets warped when we go to school and work. We are rewarded for ourabilityto answer questions on an exam or the quality of the reports we turn in. We start conflating learning with performing.