Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 12, 2026
06:11
High-definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex to Enhance Metacognitive Sensitivity
Published on: September 26, 2025
792
Generative Artificial Intelligence in Medical Education: Enhancing Critical Thinking or Undermining Cognitive
Juan S Izquierdo-Condoy1, Marlon Arias-Intriago1, Andrea Tello-De-la-Torre1
1One Health Research Group, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador.
Journal of Medical Internet Research
|November 3, 2025
Summary
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools offer benefits for medical students but may impact critical thinking. Thoughtful integration is key to enhancing cognitive skills without compromising autonomy.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education Technology
- Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
- Cognitive Science in Medicine
Background:
- Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are increasingly used in medical education.
- These tools aid in tasks such as clinical reasoning, literature reviews, and scientific writing.
- The impact of GenAI on critical thinking, a vital medical skill, is not yet fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically evaluate the influence of GenAI on critical thinking in medical training.
- To examine the potential benefits of GenAI for cognitive skills and the risks to cognitive autonomy.
- To provide recommendations for the ethical and effective integration of GenAI in medical education.
Main Methods:
- This viewpoint paper critically assesses existing evidence and expert opinion on GenAI's role in medical education.
- It explores the dual nature of GenAI as a potential cognitive enhancer and a risk to cognitive autonomy.
- The paper discusses the necessity of specific curricular strategies for GenAI implementation.
Main Results:
- GenAI can improve efficiency and linguistic output, but carries a risk of cognitive overreliance and misinformation.
- Evidence suggests mixed outcomes, with potential for increased learner engagement alongside risks of passivity.
- Without proper integration, GenAI may undermine medical students' cognitive autonomy.
Conclusions:
- GenAI can enhance clinical reasoning when integrated thoughtfully into pedagogical frameworks, acting as a cognitive support rather than a replacement.
- Medical education must adapt by prioritizing ethical use, prompt engineering, and critical evaluation of GenAI tools.
- Future physicians need to engage with GenAI critically, ethically, and contextually, especially in complex decision-making scenarios, requiring faculty oversight and reflective practice.
Related Concept Videos
01:25Critical Thinking II
4.0K
Critical thinking is a cognitive process with several attributes. The attributes of critical thinking include the following:
4.0K
01:19Critical Thinking
996
Critical thinking involves reflective and productive thinking and the evaluation of evidence. Critical thinkers seek to understand the deeper meaning of ideas, question assumptions, and make independent decisions about what to believe or do. Scientists, for instance, are often critical thinkers. Critical thinking also requires humility about what we know and don't know and the motivation to look beyond the obvious. It is essential for effective problem-solving.
Colleges and universities are...
Colleges and universities are...
996
01:13Patient-centered Care
2.9K
Patient-centered care involves delivering care beyond inpatient hospitalization. Reflective practice can enhance a patient-centered approach. Reflective practice is a process of reasoning that considers all aspects of the present situation, including practicalities, learning from personal practice, and consideration of patient needs. Patients appreciate care decisions made while considering their input. Involving the patient in their care provides the patient with a sense of contribution rather...
2.9K
01:24Critical Thinking I
4.5K
Critical thinking helps decision-making and allows nurses to recognize barriers to success and find solutions to possible issues. It helps to brainstorm and implement ideas to achieve goals. Critical thinking helps acknowledge and state workflow inefficiencies while improving management techniques. Nurses understand the value of critical thinking and look for fellow nurses with critical thinking skills to upgrade their professional standards. Critical thinking can advance a nurse's career...
4.5K
01:20Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
2.2K
Cognitive psychology is the field of psychology dedicated to examining how people think. It attempts to explain how and why we think the way we do by studying the interactions among human thinking, emotion, creativity, language, and problem-solving, as well as other cognitive processes. Cognitive psychology studies how information is processed and manipulated in remembering, thinking, and knowing.
This field emerged in the mid-20th century, following a period dominated by behaviorism, which...
This field emerged in the mid-20th century, following a period dominated by behaviorism, which...
2.2K
01:16Non-equilibrium in the Cell
5.3K
An important concept in studying metabolism and energy is that of chemical equilibrium. Most chemical reactions are reversible. They can proceed in both directions, releasing energy into their environment in one direction, and absorbing it from the environment in the other direction. The same is true for the chemical reactions involved in cell metabolism, such as the breaking down and building up of proteins into and from individual amino acids, respectively. Reactants within a closed system...
5.3K