---
title: "AI Makes You Smarter But None the Wiser (2025) Summary"
description: "Two studies (N=246, N=452): AI raised LSAT reasoning scores, but people overestimated how well they did and the Dunning-Kruger pattern vanished."
canonical: https://research.askpoppy.ai/papers/fernandes-2026-ai-makes-you-smarter-but-none-the-wiser/
last_updated: 2026-10-21
---

[Metacognition: knowing what you know](/topics/metacognition/) ["AI brain rot" and cognitive offloading](/topics/cognitive-offloading/)

# With AI, people scored better on reasoning puzzles but overestimated how well they did

**In short:** People who used AI to solve logical reasoning problems from the LSAT scored a little better than a norm group but overestimated their own score by even more. People with higher AI literacy were more confident and less accurate about how they had done.

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Paper | [AI makes you smarter but none the wiser: The disconnect between performance and metacognition](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2025.108779) |
| Authors | Daniela Fernandes, Steeven Villa, Salla Nicholls, Otso Haavisto, Daniel Buschek, Albrecht Schmidt, Thomas Kosch, Chenxinran Shen, Robin Welsch |
| Published | February 2026 · Computers in Human Behavior 175 (February 2026 issue; online from October 2025) |
| Study type | Two online experiments · Peer-reviewed |
| What we read | Abstract only. Summary based on the published abstract only. |
| Summarized | 21 October 2026 |

## What they did

Participants solved 20 LSAT logical reasoning problems with access to an AI and then estimated how many they had got right. The researchers compared performance with a norm population, compared estimates with actual scores, and used a computational model to look at individual differences. A second study repeated the design.

## Who took part

Study 1: 246 participants. Study 2: 452 participants.

## What they found

- With AI, performance was about three points higher than the norm population.
- Participants overestimated their performance by about four points.
- Higher AI literacy went with lower accuracy in judging one's own performance.
- The usual Dunning-Kruger pattern on this task (low performers overestimating most) disappeared with AI use: overestimation was more even.
- Study 2 replicated the findings.

**Effect size:** About +3 points in performance and about +4 points of overestimation (Study 1, out of 20 problems).

## Limitations

- Adults on logic puzzles, not students learning a subject.
- Measures performance with AI, not learning afterwards.
- We read only the abstract.

## What this means for learners and parents

- When AI helps, it is harder to know what you yourself can do. Test yourself without it.
- Feeling confident after using AI is not good evidence of understanding.
- Explaining an answer back in your own words, without the screen, is a quick reality check.

## Put it into practice (free tools)

- [Explain it back: an honest self-check](https://learn.askpoppy.ai/explain-it-back/)
- [Blurt from memory to see real gaps](https://learn.askpoppy.ai/blurt/)

## Citation

Daniela Fernandes, Steeven Villa, Salla Nicholls, Otso Haavisto, Daniel Buschek, Albrecht Schmidt, Thomas Kosch, Chenxinran Shen, Robin Welsch (2026). AI makes you smarter but none the wiser: The disconnect between performance and metacognition. *Computers in Human Behavior 175 (February 2026 issue; online from October 2025)*. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2025.108779>

## Related summaries

- [Unrestricted ChatGPT help raised practice scores but lowered exam scores](/papers/bastani-2025-generative-ai-without-guardrails-harms-learning/) · Hamsa Bastani et al., 2025 · Preregistered randomized controlled trial
- ["Your Brain on ChatGPT": what the MIT essay-writing study did and didn't show](/papers/kosmyna-2025-your-brain-on-chatgpt-cognitive-debt/) · Nataliya Kosmyna et al., 2025 · Lab experiment with EEG
- [ChatGPT made research feel easier but students' reasoning was weaker than with Google](/papers/stadler-2024-cognitive-ease-at-a-cost-llm-vs-search/) · Matthias Stadler et al., 2024 · Randomized experiment
- [The classic study: testing yourself beats rereading after a week](/papers/roediger-karpicke-2006-test-enhanced-learning/) · Henry L. Roediger III et al., 2006 · Lab experiments

Summary by the Ask Poppy team, AI-assisted and checked against the paper. Summarized 21 October 2026. Spotted an error? [simon@askpoppy.ai](mailto:simon@askpoppy.ai) · [Editorial policy](/about/)

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