Research: HCI Research

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly woven into the fabric of our daily lives, from recommendation engines to large language models (LLMs) that assist with our professional tasks. However, there is a growing concern that our reliance on AI systems promotes cognitive offloading, diminishes critical thinking, and disrupts the development of human mastery. As users delegate reasoning to AI systems, bypassing traditional methods of developing expertise, they reduce their critical engagement with their tasks. All of these factors warrant a deeper exploration to understand the implications of AI on human cognition, creativity, and innovation.

Current research into the influence of AI across different age groups and contexts is beginning to expose the full impact of cognitive offloading. Gerlich’s 2025 study, “AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking,” [1] provides valuable insights into this phenomenon. Through a mixed-methods approach to research, involving 666 participants, Gerlich found that heavy AI use significantly reduced users’ critical-thinking skills, mainly because users offloaded cognitive tasks to AI tools rather than engaging deeply with problems themselves. Younger participants, in particular, exhibited a higher dependence on AI tools and lower critical-thinking scores, emphasizing the need for strategies to mitigate these cognitive costs. Read More

In my last column, Part 1 of this series, I reviewed my research and analyzed on how people hold, touch, and view mobile phones and tablets. I even provided some guidelines on how to design for touchscreen mobile devices. Now, I’m going to explain how I arrived at those guidelines, going into more detail about everything I’ve learned. Looking beyond simple design tactics, this column describes what people actually do and will help you to understand why they interact with their phones and tablets the way they do.

Design Guidelines for Fingers, Touch, and People

For many years, I have performed foundational research, as well as research that was incidental to my design work. From this research, I have learned a great many things about how people hold, touch, and view smartphones. In fact, because I had gathered data on many different things, it had actually started to get confusing. Read More

This is an excerpt of a sample chapter from Jeff Johnson and Kate Finn’s new book Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population. 2017 Morgan Kaufmann.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Technology is making the world ever smaller: communications are more frequent, transactions are more instantaneous, and reporting is more direct and unfiltered. If you aren’t connected, you can be at a real disadvantage. Another disadvantage is being unable to easily and effectively use digital devices and online resources. As designers, developers, and advocates of digital technology, we should be doing our best to make it useful and usable for everyone, so no one will be at a disadvantage.

We know the benefits of staying mentally, socially, and physically active as we age. Digital technology can help with that. So it seems paradoxical that older adults can be particularly susceptible to the ill effects of poorly designed digital devices and user interfaces. Read More