Ernst Strüngmann Forum

Memory, Learning, and Neural Adaptation in the Age of Cognitive Offloading

Barbara A. Oakley and Terrence J. Sejnowski, Chairs

Neural learning mechanisms are designed to function with information that the brain holds and manipulates internally. Knowledge is not stored as isolated facts; it is organized into schemata that represent knowledge and inform its use. Critical discoveries (e.g., engrams, the transition from declarative to procedural memory systems, the formation of neural manifolds) have enhanced our understanding of learning, yet neural learning systems are remarkably sensitive to environmental influences. Socioeconomic factors can significantly shape functional connectivity between key learning networks. Children from enriched educational environments, e.g., show distinct patterns of connectivity between the cingulo-opercular and default mode networks, with reduced connectivity associated with better cognitive performance. The ubiquitous use of digital tools and AI systems has created an unprecedented natural experiment in cognitive offloading.

Although humans naturally use external tools to enhance cognitive abilities, excessive reliance can weaken internal mental frameworks. For example, when students repeatedly outsource cognitive processes to technology, they develop “biological pointers” and remember where to find information rather than the information itself. This illusion of knowledge undermines schema formation and deeper understanding. Constant task engagement is demanded by digital interfaces (e.g., through notifications and endless streams of content) and may inhibit mind-wandering periods when the default mode network becomes active, thus potentially suppressing the neural states necessary for creativity, insight, and memory consolidation.

This Forum seeks to understand how cognitive offloading and constant distracted focused attention affects the fundamental neural mechanisms of learning.  

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Social Connectedness: Constructs, Mechanisms, and Implications for Substance Use

Harriet de Wit and Martin Paulus, Chairs

Social connectedness is increasingly recognized as a crucial factor that shapes human behavior and well-being and affects psychiatric disorders such as substance use. Positive social ties are associated with resilience and thriving, whereas poor social ties contribute to stress, loneliness, and mental health disorders, including nonmedical substance use. Increasingly, research has examined social connectedness in diverse fields such as neuroscience, biology, psychology, and behavioral pharmacology, yet progress in one field often happens independently of another, leading to gaps in our collective knowledge.

At this Forum, experts from different disciplines will consider how definitions and measures of social connectedness might illuminate mechanisms of substance use vulnerability, how brain networks and behavioral processes interact in shaping patterns of substance consumption, and how targeted interventions that enhance social ties could reduce individual and communal burdens of substance abuse. It aims to establish shared conceptual definitions, identify neural and behavioral correlations of both connection and disconnection, and determine how best to translate emergent insights into tangible outcomes. This effort will culminate in a research blueprint and comprehensive set of recommendations for the scientific community, funding agencies, and policymakers. It will clarify how the field might move forward to integrate the biology of social reward with the behavioral and environmental factors that determine substance-seeking behavior, and chart a path for collaborative endeavors to minimize the societal impact of substance misuse through enhanced social well-being.

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