HUMAN COGNITION OBSERVATORY

Observing the cognitive conditions shaping human capability in the age of AI

The Human Cognition Observatory is an international initiative exploring how the cognitive conditions that shape human thinking, learning, judgement and agency are evolving in increasingly AI-rich environments.As artificial intelligence becomes more capable, the Observatory shifts attention from what technology can do to an equally important question:What conditions will enable humans to continue thinking, learning, deciding and acting effectively alongside increasingly capable technologies?

THE COGNITIVE CONDITIONS FRAMEWORK

One Integrated System - Four Interconnected Drivers

AI development is transforming the environments within which human cognition operates. The Cognitive Conditions perspective proposes that the benefits people derive from increasingly intelligent technologies will depend not only on technological capabilities, but also on the conditions that enable human capabilities to function effectively.

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES

Independent perspectives from leading voices across education, technology, neuroscience, policy and innovation are helping illuminate which human capacities and cognitive conditions may deserve greater attention in the AI era.

Robert M. Klassen — University of Oxford
Motivation, mastery and academic self-efficacyHiroshi Ishiguro — Osaka University
Human capability and human–robot coexistenceAlexandra Dragomirescu — OECD Education 2040, FG2A Co-Chair
Problem formulation in AI-mediated environmentsYoumin Xi — Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Future education, human wisdom and digital intelligenceThomas Feiner — IFEN
Neural self-regulation and autonomous thinkingBarak Cerff — QS / Reimagine Education
Metacognition, cognitive flexibility, attention and critical thinking

COGNITIVE SIGNALS

The Observatory identifies emerging signals of how human cognition and capability may be changing as AI becomes embedded in everyday environments.

THE OBSERVATORY

The Human Cognition Observatory extends an international dialogue developed around Human-Centred AI and Cognitive Readiness: Preparing Learners and Entrepreneurs for the Next Digital Economy, led by Dr Victor (Vik) Perez at the WSIS Forum 2026 in Geneva.

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• Re-Engineering Human Potential in an Age of Cognitive Overload

• Why Entrepreneurial Ideas Mature Through Cross-Cultural Perception

• What the constant sound of modern life is doing to our minds