Your Programming Students' Cognition with ChatGPT: Higher Performance, Lower Retention, and Reduced Ownership

arXiv:2609.21194v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Generative AI can improve students' programming performance, but successful task completion may not reflect what they retain. We examined performance, retention, cognitive load, and ownership in a controlled between-subjects experiment with 59 undergraduate computer science students, 55 were retained for analysis. Participants completed three introductory C programming tasks with access to ChatGPT-4.5 or conventional web search without generative AI. We measured task performance, self-reported mental effort and difficulty, pupillary responses, heart rate variability, and ownership, and assessed cued recall immediately and 48 hours later. ChatGPT-assisted students achieved higher coding scores (89% vs. 69%) but lower recall scores immediately (41% vs. 53%) and after 48 hours (39% vs. 52%). There was no significant difference in the loss of recall information over 48 hours between the groups. Self-reported mental effort increased less across tasks in the ChatGPT condition (Holm-adjusted p = .047), and students attributed less of the submitted code to themselves (45% vs. 81%). Confirmatory physiological tests did not detect significant differences in trajectories between conditions; substantial data loss limits their interpretation. These findings reveal a gap between assisted task performance and subsequent recall and sense of ownership in this setting. They motivate the need for assessment practices and AI learning tools that require students to explain, retrieve, and contribute to the work they submit as active participants in

ChatGPT improves task performance but reduces retention and ownership.

The study reports that ChatGPT assistance leads to higher immediate programming performance but lower knowledge retention and sense of ownership. These mixed effects suggest potential educational benefits alongside risks of diminished learning and engagement, indicating nuanced societal implications rather than clearly positive or negative.

A well-controlled study shows AI assistance boosts short-term performance but reduces retention and ownership, a concerning tradeoff for education. Sample is modest (55) and physiological data inconclusive, limiting generalizability but the behavioral findings are clear and directly measured.

Students using ChatGPT achieved higher coding scores but showed significantly lower recall of material both immediately and after 48 hours. They also reported lower mental effort and a reduced sense of ownership over the code, suggesting a superficial learning experience despite improved task performance.

The study shows that while AI assistance improves immediate performance, it reduces long-term retention and sense of ownership. This suggests a negative impact on learning and skill development.

SOURCE     arXiv cs.CY (Computers and Society) (tier 1)
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DOCUMENT   e8811158-690c-43ae-b67c-663853866c68
           https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21194
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EVIDENCE   3 extracted excerpts
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MODEL RUN  5 runs, methodology 1.0.1
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SCORE      -48  (Adverse)
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CONFIDENCE 80%