Brain scans suggest first graders don’t engage their control networks like adults when talking to ChatGPT

A small brain imaging study suggests that young children show less communication within and between the brain networks responsible for self-regulation and focused attention when brainstorming with an artificial intelligence chatbot than adults do. Although first graders and adults scored similarly, relative to their age groups, on a standard test of creative thinking outside the brain scanner, only adults showed a link between higher creativity and stronger coordination among these mental control systems during the conversation. The findings, published in Cerebral Cortex, suggest that young children may not yet have the mature brain wiring needed to actively direct and evaluate a collaborative conversation with generative artificial intelligence.