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Study on AI's Impact on Children's Cognitive Development Published: Children Who Overuse AI Tutoring Tools Score 19% Lower on Creativity Tests

A 5-year longitudinal study by Oxford University's Department of Education found that children aged 9-12 who use AI tutoring tools more than 2 hours daily show significant decline in divergent thinking test performance.

Study on AI's Impact on Children's Cognitive Development Published

On October 30, 2030, Oxford University's Department of Education published a 5-year longitudinal study in Child Development: children aged 9 to 12 who use AI tutoring tools for more than 2 hours daily scored 19% lower on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) compared to the control group.

The study tracked the developmental trajectories of 3,200 children in the United Kingdom from ages 7 to 12. Researchers divided the children into three groups: no AI tool usage, light use (less than 30 minutes daily), and heavy use (more than 2 hours daily). After controlling for variables including family socioeconomic status, parental education level, and baseline intelligence, the creativity decline in the heavy use group remained significant.

Lead researcher Professor Victoria Murphy of Oxford University stated: "AI tutoring tools excel at providing correct answers, but the core abilities of creativity — divergent thinking, tolerance for ambiguity, and learning from failure — precisely require development in environments with 'no standard answers.' Over-reliance on AI may weaken children's capacity for independent exploration and making mistakes."

Notably, children in the light AI use group outperformed both the non-use and heavy use groups on standardized academic tests, but showed no significant difference from the non-use group on creativity tests. Professor Murphy believes this indicates that moderate use of AI tools can improve academic performance, but the "dosage effect" matters.

The study recommends that schools and parents limit children's use of AI tutoring tools to no more than 1 hour per day and ensure children have at least 1 hour of unstructured free play time daily.