Causes and consequences of cognitive offloading in children (2025-2027)
Abstract
Australian children often use external thinking tools (e.g., calculators, laptops, smartphones) to help themselves solve problems. Among adults, such cognitive offloading behaviours can have detrimental effects on internal cognitive abilities, but nothing is known about the long-term effects on children. This project aims to examine how children and adolescents trade off the benefits and costs of cognitive offloading, and establish the cognitive and neurocognitive causes and consequences of such trade-offs. Expected outcomes include the ability to identify children whose use of cognitive offloading may put their thinking skills at risk. This knowledge may eventually assist in training children to offload only when it benefits them.
