angie-words

[angie-words]

There’s a new (unreviewed draft of a) scientific article out, examining the relationship between Large Language Model (LLM) use and brain functionality, which many reporters are incorrectly claiming shows proof that ChatGPT is damaging people’s brains.

As an educator and writer, I am concerned by the growing popularity of so-called AI writing programs like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Gemini, which when used injudiciously can take all of the struggle and reward out of writing, and lead to carefully written work becoming undervalued. But as a psychologist and lifelong skeptic, I am forever dismayed by sloppy, sensationalistic reporting on neuroscience, and how eager the public is to believe any claim that sounds scary or comes paired with a grainy image of a brain scan.

So I wanted to take a moment today to unpack exactly what the study authors did, what they actually found, and what the results of their work might mean for anyone concerned about the rise of AI — or the ongoing problem of irresponsible science reporting.

If you don’t have time for 4,000 lovingly crafted words, here’s the tl;dr.

The major caveats with this study are:

This paper has not been peer-reviewed, which is generally seen as an essential part of ensuring research quality in academia.

The researchers chose to get this paper into the public eye as quickly as possible because they are concerned about the use of LLMs, so their biases & professional motivations ought to be taken into account.

Its subject pool is incredibly small (N=54 total).

Subjects had no reason to care about the quality of the essays they wrote, so it’s hardly surprising the ones who were allowed to use AI tools didn’t try.

EEG scans only monitored brain function while writing the essays, not subjects’ overall cognitive abilities, or effort at tasks they actually cared about.

Google users were also found to utilize fewer cognitive resources and engage in less memory retrieval while writing their essays in this study, but nobody seems to hand-wring about search engines being used to augment writing anymore.

Cognitive ability & motivation were not measured in this study.

Changes in cognitive ability & motivation over time were not measured.

This was a laboratory study that cannot tell us how individuals actually use LLMs in their daily life, what the long-term effects of LLM use are, and if there are any differences in those who choose to use LLMs frequently and those who do not.

The researchers themselves used an AI model to analyze their data, so staunch anti-AI users don’t have support for there views here.

Brain-imaging research is seductive and authoritative-seeming to the public, making it more likely to get picked up (and misrepresented) by reporters.

Educators have multiple reasons to feel professionally and emotionally threatened by widespread LLM use, which influences the studies we design and the conclusions that we draw on the subject.

Students have very little reason to care about writing well right now, given the state of higher ed; if we want that to change, we have to reward slow, painstaking effort.

The stories we tell about our abilities matter. When individuals falsely believe they are “brain damaged” by using a technological tool, they will expect less of themselves and find it harder to adapt.

Head author Nataliya Kosmyna and her colleagues at the MIT Media Lab set out to study how the use of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT affects students’ critical engagement with writing tasks, using electroencephalogram scans to monitor their brains’ electrical activity as they were writing. They also evaluated the quality of participants’ papers on several dimensions, and questioned them after the fact about what they remembered of their essays.

Each of the study’s 54 research subjects were brought in for four separate writing sessions over a period of four months. It was only during these writing tasks that students’ brain activity was monitored.

Prior research has shown that when individuals rely upon an LLM to complete a cognitively demanding task, they devote fewer of their own cognitive resources to that task, and use less critical thinking in their approach to that task. Researchers call this process of handing over the burden of intellectually demanding activities to a large language model cognitive offloading, and there is a concern voiced frequently in the literature that repeated cognitive offloading could diminish a person’s actual cognitive abilities over time or create AI dependence.

Now, there is a big difference between deciding not to work very hard on an activity because technology has streamlined it, and actually losing the ability to engage in deeper thought, particularly since the tasks that people tend to offload to LLMs are repetitive, tedious, or unfulfilling ones that they’re required to complete for work and school and don’t otherwise value for themselves. It would be foolhardy to assume that simply because a person uses ChatGPT to summarize an assigned reading for a class that they have lost the ability to read, just as it would be wrong to assume that a person can’t add or subtract because they have used a calculator.

However, it’s unquestionable that LLM use has exploded across college campuses in recent years and rendered a great many introductory writing assignments irrelevant, and that educators are feeling the dread that their profession is no longer seen as important. I have written about this dread before — though I trace it back to government disinvestment in higher education and commodification of university degrees that dates back to Reagan, not to ChatGPT.

College educators have been treated like underpaid quiz-graders and degrees have been sold with very low barriers to completion for decades now, I have argued, and the rise of students submitting ChatGPT-written essays to be graded using ChatGPT-generated rubrics is really just a logical consequence of the profit motive that has already ravaged higher education. But I can’t say any of these longstanding economic developments have been positive for the quality of the education that we professors give out (or that it’s helped students remain motivated in their own learning process), so I do think it is fair that so many academics are concerned that widespread LLM use could lead to some kind of mental atrophy over time.

This study, however, is not evidence that any lasting cognitive atrophy has happened. It would take a far more robust, long-term study design tracking subjects’ cognitive engagement against a variety of tasks that they actually care about in order to test that.

Rather, Kosmyna and colleagues brought their 54 study participants into the lab four separate times, and assigned them SAT-style essays to write, in exchange for a $100 stipend. The study participants did not earn any grade, and having a high-quality essay did not earn them any additional compensation. There was, therefore, very little personal incentive to try very hard at the essay-writing task, beyond whatever the participant already found gratifying about it.

I wrote all about the viral study supposedly linking AI use to cognitive decline, and the problem of irresponsible, fear-mongering science reporting. You can read the full piece for free on my Substack.

[angie-words]

I just wanna post a new fic. No i don’t wanna have to write it lol

[angie-words]

Ok so I made a bunch more memes on my phone in the dark here you go

[angie-words]

Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens

[angie-words]

Tips on Writing Breakup Scenes

✦ People don’t always cry. shocking, I know. sometimes someone just sits there like a polite zombie, nodding and saying “okay” while their soul quietly packs a bag and moves out the back of their skull. They might want to cry, but also they might just go numb and stare at the salt shaker for ten minutes. Both are valid guys.

✦ Most breakups aren’t a single moment, they’re a slow unraveling that ends in a conversation, so even if your character feels blindsided, it should still carry that surreal “I should’ve seen this coming” haze. Because breakups rarely just drop out of the sky.

✦ The dumbest details stick, like seriously, no one remembers the whole speech, but they’ll remember the scratchy napkin, the weird buzz of a light, that their ex had mustard on their cheek and didn’t notice.

✦ You can always feel a breakup coming. no one says “we need to talk” out of nowhere, because people act different right before. overly nice. extra distant. weirdly cold or weirdly warm. characters should notice that, even if they can’t quite name what it is yet.

✦ Sometimes people still love each other. like, actually still love each other. it’s not always about the love being gone, no. It can be timing, fear, baggage, a hundred other things that get in the way. let your characters say “I love you” and still not stay. It hurts and it’s real.

✦ Closure? lol. most people don’t get it. a lot of breakups end with “wait, that’s it?” or a message that never gets sent or that one thing you almost said but didn’t. There’s rarely a satisfying ending.

✦ No one speaks in perfect sentences mid-breakup. people ramble. they say sorry three times and mean something different every time. Someone’s trying to keep it light. someone else is cracking. sentences trail off. someone forgets how to use words entirely.

✦ After it’s over, people don’t always sob into a pint of ice cream. Some people shut down, some go out and party, some clean their entire room, rewatch a comfort show, or post a spicy selfie with “new era” energy. Everyone breaks differently, so let your characters be weird about it.

✦ And if your character is the one doing the breaking up, let them feel complicated... just because they’re ending it doesn’t mean it’s easy. They might feel guilty and relieved, or they might cry after. Maybe they might mourn the version of the relationship that only existed in their head.

[angie-words]

Writing smut while also skewing the data of "most searched terms" on a thesaurus website 🫡

[angie-words]

a few lil sketches of these two~

[angie-words]

[angie-words]

My husband and I for pride 💕

[angie-words]

Hello everyone! Happy Pride Month!

I know that I'm late to the party with this post, but that's just because this post was available on the 1st of June only for my Patreons! As a thank you for them I created as many versions of this wallpaper as I could (including a version for a PC!)

Anyways - remember to be who you are! Embrace and love yourself, you are worth everything!

I hope that these little wallpapers will brighten up your day with their cuteness! 💖🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

[angie-words]

No one:

David Tennant: “LOOK AT MY PRETTY SOCKS!”

[angie-words]

Set Yourself on Fire - Now Complete

Babes!

Babes.

I did the thing. I have done the thing. The thing is done.

Set Yourself on Fire - Now Complete

This beast of a story that has taken over my life for over a year is now complete, it is up, it is posted and ready for your snacking pleasure.

This is an enemies-to-friends-to-lovers fic. It is a friends with benefits fic. It is sapphic. It is explicit. There is angst, yes, but it does not aim to be too heavy, and if there is hurt there is also comfort.

I just want to give a little love letter to this community, this place that gave me a space to tell a story that meant something to me, even as we learned the horrible things we now know about the creator of the source material, and even as the world we live in grows scarier every day.

We need art and we need community and we need love so thank you fine people for all those things xo,

Ro.

Credit to my betas at @whickber-street-writers this story would not exist without you. @playdohangel, @angie-words, @springofviolets @prinxlegolass, and @bohoteacher

Thank you to @secretlywingedphantom for designing this kickass poster.

A big shout out to @goodomensafterdark for creating this community

[angie-words]

Just a warning that some are funny, some are sweet, and some are angsty 💕

[angie-words]

Hi! Is there any longfics that have lots of plot but also a Crowley/ Aziraphale happy ending? I’m kind of looking for a substitute for Season 3 right now to be honest🙃

Hey! We have #good omens s3 speculation and #long fic tags, so jump in for loads of fics! Here are more to add to both tags...

Good Outcomes by Thimster (T)

Unsurprisingly, Aziraphale runs into problems in his new job: the Second Coming will be a massacre, and only Crowley can help him prevent it. But Crowley has his own reasons, and his own issues: Hell gives him an ultimatum, and he must choose. But it seems neither angels nor demons can make choices very well. And stopping the Second Coming will have major consequences for everyone.

What If I'm Happier Now by guessimdemoms (G)

After Aziraphale stepped on that elevator and chose Heaven, Crowley wallowed in a haze of alcohol and sleep and somehow found his way to America where he got a teaching job. Turns out he's good at it, and the kids adore him, so he decides to see it out until the end figuring he never has to return to London. But then his after school club has a chance to compete in a contest in London, and soon he finds himself heading back to the place that brought him so much pain. He figures he'll be safe since Aziraphale is still in Heaven, but there are surprises in store as soon as he steps foot back on English soil.

i will make it better, if only for us by davethefish (T)

With Aziraphale in Heaven, everything that Crowley loved has left the earth. He doesn't know what to do, so he starts small. Maybe someday he'll love the earth as much as he loved Aziraphale. It's time for him to remember why he chose to stay in the first place.

Among the Stacks by MeinirRhos (NR)

Nearly a year after Aziraphale returns to Heaven, he vanishes from existence, leaving Crowley bereft on Earth. Just when the demon has finally started to heal and move on with his life, he finds his angel by chance in a library. But Aziraphale has no memory of his life as an angel, or of Crowley. How will our hero cope?

And I Did by Di_42 (E)

This is a story about faith. This is a story about love. This is a story about loss. This is a story about being apart and about being reunited. This is a story about fighting. This is a story about choices. Where do we choose to place our faith? Will a god we have faith in come and save us? Will a friend? A loved one? When do we start doubting our faith? How long before we snap, before we raise our head? How far can we go before we crumble under the weight of our own misplaced faith? Under the weight of our choices? What does it take to make us feel betrayed, abandoned, left behind? What does it take for us to turn our back on what in which we had faith? Who are we loyal to, and who is loyal to us? Who do we trust, and who trusts us? What are we ready to risk in the name of faith? What are we ready to lose in the name of loyalty? When are we going to take our lives into our own hands? What are we going to fight for? This is a story about unbreakable faith. This is, after all, a work of fiction. OR: Yet another Good Omens post season 2 fiction, featuring Supreme Archangel Aziraphale and Grand Duke Of Hell Crowley.

Epistolary by imposterssyndrome (E)

“Dear Diary, Today I encountered that most interesting phenomenon that is pornographic cinematography." Or Crowley discovers Aziraphale's personal diaries. What starts as a curious investigation about the angel's 'pornographic cinematography' experiences leads to Crowley wanting to find out about what he missed during his 14th century nap...and lots more. He discovers just how much miscommunication they had between them and how it led to so many misunderstandings. He finds out about how Aziraphale felt about him over the centuries and tries to reconcile that with his own feelings, especially now that Aziraphale is up in Heaven and not allowed to return to Earth...

- Mod D

[angie-words]

Good Omens 🥹

Clip Studio Paint

commissions open https://vgen.co/valentinaban

[angie-words]

Daydream

I fell asleep amid the flowers

For a couple of hours, on a beautiful day

Daydream

I dream of you amid the flowers

I dream a dirty dream of you, baby

This song wormed its way into my brain and wouldn't let go. Please give it a listen, the weird vocals really add to the image 👌 I just love drawing dream states that mix together fear and sexual undertones

Big thanks to @tiny-vermin for letting me borrow her guardian lion Aziraphale 🙏

[angie-words]

I had a yearning to make them