Latest news with #participants
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
ChatGPT could affect your critical thinking skills, study finds
MIT researchersconducted a study analyzing the impact using ChatGPT in writing tasks can have on brain activity. The study is part ofMIT's Media Lab project called"Your Brain on ChatGPT," which is designed to assess the cognitive effect of relying on large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT when authoring essays. Dig deeper Approximately 54 people between the ages of 18 and 39 participated in the study. The individuals were divided into three groups to compose several essays. RELATED: ChatGPT may be smart enough to graduate law school One group was allowed to use ChatGPT; the second, Google search; and the third, no AI tools at all. An electroencephalography (EEG) headset was used by the participants while writing to measure the participants' brain activity across 32 regions of the brain. Each patient drafted essays in three sessions and in a fourth session, some participants were reassigned. The individuals who used ChatGPT transitioned to writing unaided (called "LLM-to-Brain") while some who started the brain-only exercise used the LLM ("Brain-to-LLM") RELATED: ChatGPT outperformed doctors in diagnostic accuracy, study reveals The participants' essays were scored by both human teachers and an AI judge, and at the conclusion of the assignment, each person was interviewed following the sessions with researchers asking them about how much they felt they owned their writing. Researchers determined that of the three groups in the study, the ChatGPT users experienced the lowest brain engagement. The team concluded that their study has limitations that they document in their report and website and that more research is needed to better understand the use of ChatGPT in various parts of daily life. The Source Information for this story was provided by an MIT study, which is part of the MIT Media project "Your Brain on ChatGPT." This story was reported from Washington, D.C.
Medscape
a day ago
- Health
- Medscape
Adding a Pinch of Salt Can Affect Liver Health
TOPLINE: Adding salt to foods with a higher frequency was associated with increased risks for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The associations were stronger among nonsmokers, current alcohol drinkers, and individuals without diabetes or with a lower BMI and were partly mediated by adiposity. METHODOLOGY: Previous studies have shown that added salt in foods is linked to adverse health outcomes such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and mortality, but its role in liver-related disorders is still underexplored. Researchers conducted a prospective cohort study with 492,265 participants (mean age, 56.5 years; 45.3% men) from the UK Biobank who had no prevalent liver diseases or alcohol/drug use disorders at baseline. Participants' frequency of adding salt to foods was self-reported, with responses categorized as never/rarely, sometimes, usually, and always. The primary outcome was incident MASLD, with secondary outcomes including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, identified using diagnostic codes through electronic health records. The association between frequency of adding salt and risks for liver-related disorders was assessed using models adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, personal history of diseases, and diet factors, and linear trends were calculated on the basis of frequency of adding salt to foods. TAKEAWAY: Adding salt more frequently was associated with an increased risk for incident MASLD, with adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) of 1.08 for sometimes, 1.22 for usually, and 1.40 for always, compared with never/rarely (P for trend < .0001). A higher frequency of adding salt was also associated with increased risks for cirrhosis (aHRs, 1.11 for sometimes, 1.09 for usually, and 1.32 for always) and hepatocellular carcinoma (aHRs, 1.26 for sometimes, 1.45 for usually, and 2.25 for always) compared with never/rarely (P for trend < .0001 for both). The association between adding salt frequency and the risk for MASLD was stronger among nonsmokers, current alcohol drinkers, and individuals without diabetes or with a lower BMI (P for interaction < .05 for all). Adiposity measures, including BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, body fat mass, and body fat percentage, mediated over 20% of the associations between frequency of adding salt and the risk for incident MASLD. Similar factors mediated the effects for cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma along with alcohol intake. IN PRACTICE: 'These findings suggest that reducing salt/sodium intake could be a promising strategy for preventing liver-related disorders,' the study authors wrote. SOURCE: The study was led by Shunming Zhang, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center in Xi'an, China, and Lund University, Malmö, Sweden. It was published online in the European Journal of Nutrition. LIMITATIONS: The single baseline measurement of frequency of adding salt to food does not account for changes over time, potentially underestimating associations. The reliance on self-reported data for salt addition frequency and some covariates may lead to recall bias and measurement errors. The study's observational design limits causal inference, and the predominantly European ancestry of participants may affect generalizability to other populations. DISCLOSURES: This study was supported by an open access funding provided by Lund University and grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Shaanxi Province Postdoctoral Science Foundation, and Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
ABC News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Palestinian authorities say Gaza death toll now more than 56,000
Wed 25 Jun 2025 at 7:30pm Wednesday 25 Jun 2025 at 7:30pm Wed 25 Jun 2025 at 7:30pm Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Play Duration: 9 minutes 44 seconds 9 m
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
ChatGPT could be silently rewiring your brain as experts urge caution for long-term use
Using ChatGPT on a long-term basis could have negative effects on brain function. That's according to a study led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which found that using a large language model (LLM) to write multiple essays over a four-month period could hamper cognitive abilities. In the study, 54 participants were divided into three groups. Woman Says Chatgpt Saved Her Life By Helping Detect Cancer, Which Doctors Missed One group used ChatGPT, an LLM product made by OpenAI, to write an essay. The second group used only a search engine, and the third group used only their own brains, according to a press release from MIT. Read On The Fox News App The participants underwent three sessions where they completed the same assignment. Then, in the fourth session, the LLM group was asked to write an essay without any tools, and the "brain-only" group was asked to use an LLM for assistance. During each session, the researchers recorded the participants' brain activity using an EEG monitor to assess their "cognitive engagement and cognitive load" and to determine their neural activity, the release stated. Brain Implant Breakthrough Allows Paralyzed Patients To 'Speak' With Their Thoughts The participants also provided their own individual feedback during interviews. Human teachers and an artificial intelligence agent scored the assessments. "EEG analysis presented robust evidence that LLM, search engine and brain-only groups had significantly different neural connectivity patterns, reflecting divergent cognitive strategies," the researchers wrote. Participants showed less brain connectivity when they used the tools to help write their essays, the study found. "The brain‑only group exhibited the strongest, widest‑ranging networks; the search engine group showed intermediate engagement; and LLM assistance elicited the weakest overall coupling," the researchers wrote. In the fourth session, the participants who switched from LLM to brain-only showed "weaker neural connectivity" and less cognitive engagement. The LLM group also had less ability to recall information from the essays they had just written. Those who switched from brain-only to LLM had "higher memory recall" and greater cognitive engagement. Based on these findings, the researchers said there could be a "possible decrease in learning skills" among LLM users. "The use of LLM had a measurable impact on our participants, and while the benefits were initially apparent, as we demonstrated over the course of four sessions … the LLM group's participants performed worse than their counterparts in the brain-only group at all levels: neural, linguistic [and] scoring," they wrote. The findings have been uploaded to Arxiv, a preprint service, but have not yet been peer-reviewed, as the researchers noted that "all conclusions are to be treated with caution and as preliminary." There were also a limited number of participants who were all from the same geographical area. Ai Tool Scans Faces To Predict Biological Age And Cancer Survival "For future work, it will be important to include a larger number of participants coming from diverse backgrounds, like professionals in different areas and age groups, as well as ensure that the study is more gender-balanced," the researchers noted. Only ChatGPT was used in the study; future research could incorporate other LLMs. The EEG technology used to analyze brain connectivity could also have some limitations, as the researchers shared plans to use fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) in future studies. "Our findings are context-dependent and are focused on writing an essay in an educational setting and may not generalize across tasks," they also stated. "Future studies should also consider exploring longitudinal impacts of tool usage on memory retention, creativity and writing fluency." Dr. Harvey Castro, an ER physician and "AI futurist" based in Texas, said he sees this study as a "neuro-wake-up call," especially for younger brains. "ChatGPT can make you 60% faster, but that speed comes at the price of neuro-engagement," Castro, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. "Brain connectivity collapses from 79 neural links to just 42, and 83% of users can't quote their own essays minutes later. Neuroplasticity research tells us developing brains will feel this hit hardest." In emergency medicine, Castro said, doctors call this "failure to encode." "The brain isn't processing and storing information," he said. "When neural connectivity drops by nearly half, we're looking at what researchers call 'cognitive debt.'" For medical students, an inability to encode and recall information under pressure could have serious implications for clinical decision-making, Castro noted. Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter "The same neural networks that consolidate essay information are involved in diagnostic reasoning," he said. Using LLMs for extended periods can be convenient, but could cause cognitive muscles to "atrophy" over time, the expert cautioned. There was one encouraging finding, however. "When people with strong foundational skills later used ChatGPT, they showed enhanced connectivity," Castro said. "The key isn't avoiding AI — it's building cognitive strength first." In education, he emphasized the need for periods of "AI-free cognitive development." For more Health articles, visit "Sometimes you act on preliminary data when the stakes are high enough, and an entire generation's brain development is high stakes." Fox News Digital reached out to OpenAI for article source: ChatGPT could be silently rewiring your brain as experts urge caution for long-term use
Fox News
3 days ago
- Science
- Fox News
ChatGPT could be silently rewiring your brain as experts urge caution for long-term use
Using ChatGPT on a long-term basis could have negative effects on brain function. That's according to a study led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which found that using a large language model (LLM) to write multiple essays over a four-month period could hamper cognitive abilities. In the study, 54 participants were divided into three groups. One group used ChatGPT, an LLM product made by OpenAI, to write an essay. The second group used only a search engine, and the third group used only their own brains, according to a press release from MIT. The participants underwent three sessions where they completed the same assignment. Then, in the fourth session, the LLM group was asked to write an essay without any tools, and the "brain-only" group was asked to use an LLM for assistance. During each session, the researchers recorded the participants' brain activity using an EEG monitor to assess their "cognitive engagement and cognitive load" and to determine their neural activity, the release stated. The participants also provided their own individual feedback during interviews. Human teachers and an artificial intelligence agent scored the assessments. "EEG analysis presented robust evidence that LLM, search engine and brain-only groups had significantly different neural connectivity patterns, reflecting divergent cognitive strategies," the researchers wrote. Participants showed less brain connectivity when they used the tools to help write their essays, the study found. "The brain‑only group exhibited the strongest, widest‑ranging networks; the search engine group showed intermediate engagement; and LLM assistance elicited the weakest overall coupling," the researchers wrote. "The key isn't avoiding AI — it's building cognitive strength first." In the fourth session, the participants who switched from LLM to brain-only showed "weaker neural connectivity" and less cognitive engagement. The LLM group also had less ability to recall information from the essays they had just written. Those who switched from brain-only to LLM had "higher memory recall" and greater cognitive engagement. Based on these findings, the researchers said there could be a "possible decrease in learning skills" among LLM users. "The use of LLM had a measurable impact on our participants, and while the benefits were initially apparent, as we demonstrated over the course of four sessions … the LLM group's participants performed worse than their counterparts in the brain-only group at all levels: neural, linguistic [and] scoring," they wrote. The findings have been uploaded to Arxiv, a preprint service, but have not yet been peer-reviewed, as the researchers noted that "all conclusions are to be treated with caution and as preliminary." There were also a limited number of participants who were all from the same geographical area. "For future work, it will be important to include a larger number of participants coming from diverse backgrounds, like professionals in different areas and age groups, as well as ensure that the study is more gender-balanced," the researchers noted. Only ChatGPT was used in the study; future research could incorporate other LLMs. The EEG technology used to analyze brain connectivity could also have some limitations, as the researchers shared plans to use fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) in future studies. "Our findings are context-dependent and are focused on writing an essay in an educational setting and may not generalize across tasks," they also stated. "Future studies should also consider exploring longitudinal impacts of tool usage on memory retention, creativity and writing fluency." Dr. Harvey Castro, an ER physician and "AI futurist" based in Texas, said he sees this study as a "neuro-wake-up call," especially for younger brains. "ChatGPT can make you 60% faster, but that speed comes at the price of neuro-engagement," Castro, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. "Brain connectivity collapses from 79 neural links to just 42, and 83% of users can't quote their own essays minutes later. Neuroplasticity research tells us developing brains will feel this hit hardest." In emergency medicine, Castro said, doctors call this "failure to encode." "The brain isn't processing and storing information," he said. "When neural connectivity drops by nearly half, we're looking at what researchers call 'cognitive debt.'" For medical students, an inability to encode and recall information under pressure could have serious implications for clinical decision-making, Castro noted. "The same neural networks that consolidate essay information are involved in diagnostic reasoning," he said. Using LLMs for extended periods can be convenient, but could cause cognitive muscles to "atrophy" over time, the expert cautioned. There was one encouraging finding, however. "When people with strong foundational skills later used ChatGPT, they showed enhanced connectivity," Castro said. "The key isn't avoiding AI — it's building cognitive strength first." In education, he emphasized the need for periods of "AI-free cognitive development." For more Health articles, visit "Sometimes you act on preliminary data when the stakes are high enough, and an entire generation's brain development is high stakes." Fox News Digital reached out to OpenAI for comment.
