Archive

Digital Cognition and Democracy Initiative (DCDI)

Investigating how digital technologies affect human cognition, and what those effects mean for democracy

The Digital Cognition & Democracy Initiative is a robust coalition of concerned practitioners, researchers, and technologists seeking to understand how digital technologies affect human cognition and what those effects mean for democracy, to identify mitigation strategies for potential risks posed, and to blunt the negative impacts of disinformation on our societies.

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AI, Therefore I Am: Exploring Cognition in the Age of GenAI

AI, Therefore I Am: Exploring Cognition in the Age of GenAI

In response to the emerging realities posed by GenAI, IST launched the Generative Identity Initiative. Over the last six months, a coalition of dedicated contributors from academia, industry, and civil society have been meeting to discuss how generative AI, particularly conversational agents, might impact social cohesion and to develop approaches to protect the public interest in the face of these challenges.

artificial intelligence, authenticity, genAI, metacognition, social cohesion

September 24, 2024

Technology, Warfare, and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: IST’s Anniversary Assessment

Technology, Warfare, and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: IST’s Anniversary Assessment

Prompted by the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, the IST team took stock of the major tech trends the war in Ukraine has revealed, accelerated, and even redirected.

cybersecurity, disinformation, Russia, Russo-Ukraine War, Ukraine

February 24, 2023

Democracy Gone Digital: The Election Season Online

In the News, Op-ed

Democracy Gone Digital: The Election Season Online

In an op-ed for Tech Policy Press, Zoë Brammer and Philip Reiner sound the alarm based on our Digital Cognition and Democracy Initiative (DCDI) research. We need to help voters grapple with information overload and unnaturally immersive experience provoked by digital tools, they urge.

DCDI, democracy, digital cognition, election manipulation

November 7, 2022

Digital Tools, Cognition, and Democracy: A Review of the Literature

Digital Tools, Cognition, and Democracy: A Review of the Literature

This literature review supports a series examining the effects digital technologies have on the following cognitive processes: "Memory," "Attention," and "Reasoning." The broader report series includes three additional papers looking at some of the society-level cognitive and democratic impacts of technology, titled: "Modulating Trust," "Shortcutting Critical Thinking," and "Exploiting Emotions."

attention, cognition, DCDI, democracy, emotions, Geopolitics of Technology, memory, reasoning, social

October 27, 2022

Reasoning: How digital technologies influence decision making and judgment

Reasoning: How digital technologies influence decision making and judgment

This report provides a working definition of reasoning, narrowing the scope of the discussion to judgment and decision making. We identify three aspects of digital technology that exert significant impacts on reasoning: user experience design, gamification, and search engines. Examples include social media platforms, gamified platforms like Robinhood, and search engines like Google and Wikipedia. Key findings include:

cognition, DCDI, decision making, democracy, gamification, Geopolitics of Technology, judgment, reasoning, search engines, user experience design

October 27, 2022

Attention: How digital technologies influence what we notice, what we focus on, and how we learn

Attention: How digital technologies influence what we notice, what we focus on, and how we learn

This report examines the impact that technology has on the cognitive function of attention. It provides a working definition of attention within a cognitive science context, including the distinction between overt and covert attention. It summarizes findings that elucidate how attention is affected by the passive and active consumption of technology.

attention, cognition, critical thinking, DCDI, democracy, emotions, gamification, Geopolitics of Technology, memory, reasoning

October 27, 2022

Memory: How digital technologies influence cognitive information storage

Memory: How digital technologies influence cognitive information storage

Memory is foundational to cognition. It enables individuals to operate with certain assumptions about truth based on prior validated beliefs. Memory informs individual decision making, reasoning, and problem solving. There are also significant societal implications rooted in memory function. Individual memories, collectively and cumulatively, inform the development of “national memory,” which in turn influences “the construction of a democratic culture and collective identity.” This report provides a working definition of memory and focuses especially on long-term memory.

bias, cognition, DCDI, democracy, Geopolitics of Technology, GPS effect, manipulation, memory, trust

October 27, 2022

Shortcutting Critical Thinking

Shortcutting Critical Thinking

The scale, accuracy, and speed of digital technologies make them particularly effective at activating the very emotions that influence and undermine critical thinking. Not only do digital technologies have the ability to inflame those emotions, but they often are designed to do so, as those very emotions drive engagement, use, and consumer spending.

attention, cognition, critical thinking, DCDI, democracy, emotions, Geopolitics of Technology, reasoning

October 27, 2022

Modulating Trust

Modulating Trust

Social trust – trust in other people and institutions – is critical to the DCDI problem set. But trust is not always beneficial. Although trust in technology can facilitate economic transactions, it can also diminish our capacity for skepticism. Consumers tend to prefer to use technologies that they trust, and sellers and developers of technology find more success when there is more trust in their systems. Yet trust placed too freely in technologies can also generate vulnerabilities for those same consumers–to identity theft, to addiction, to misinformation, and to fraud.

attention, cognition, DCDI, democracy, fraud, Geopolitics of Technology, misinformation, social trust, trust

October 27, 2022

Exploiting Emotions

Exploiting Emotions

Digital systems exploit and manipulate emotions by design. Emotions prompt people to use digital tools, engage with content, products, and services, respond to advertisements, stay on or return to digital platforms, and even take action offline as a result of online experience. The design of the digital environment, especially its visual nature, also heightens user emotions, often creating an addictive cycle. Because emotions affect how we process, engage with, and often act upon information, they play a central role in the relationship between digital tools and democracy.

addictive, attention, cognition, DCDI, democracy, Geopolitics of Technology, memory, networks, reasoning, social

October 27, 2022

Rewired: How digital technologies shape cognition and democracy

Rewired: How digital technologies shape cognition and democracy

The Digital Cognition & Democracy Initiative is investigating how digital technologies affect human cognition, and what those effects mean for democracy. Rewired by Leah Walker examines different key themes that have emerged in our DCDI research and working meetings with coalition members. This series is meant to illustrate the depth of the digitally influenced cognition problem, and illuminate how we are thinking about these issues.

attention, cognition, critical thinking, DCDI, democracy, emotions, friction, Geopolitics of Technology, information overload, memory, reasoning, trust

October 27, 2022

Digitally Influenced Cognition: What is it, and what does it mean for democracy?

Digitally Influenced Cognition: What is it, and what does it mean for democracy?

While disinformation, affective polarization, and anti-democratic behavior have always existed, the growing scale of these problems, aided in part by the evolving Internet landscape, poses novel threats to democracy.

algorithmic bias, democracy, digital cognition, manipulated cognition

May 31, 2022

Connecting with Caution: How to Smartly Enhance Our Human Experience

Connecting with Caution: How to Smartly Enhance Our Human Experience

We seldom acknowledge how technology is able to fuel interpersonal connections that fulfill an ever deeper human need. That is while remaining clear-eyed about potential risks, how do current technologies allow us to be more human.

COVID, social media, technology

September 10, 2020