I'm NOT a Robot
I'm NOT a Robot
AI Academy
AI and Human Cognition: The Reverse Flynn Effect and Protecting Cognitive Agency
20 minutes Posted Feb 18, 2026 at 8:00 am.
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Does using more technology actually make us less cognitively capable? For most of the 20th century, each generation scored higher on IQ tests than the one before, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. This trend began to reverse in several countries, though the pattern was recognized around 2010. If we think of humans like computers for a moment, the new generation may be developing different cognitive strengths: becoming better at parallel processing, visual pattern recognition, and multit...