Your brain evolved to trust what it sees. For millions of years, that worked. Now? Deepfakes, synthetic media, AI-generated everything. That instinct gets you fooled.

This is Episode 3 of our AI and the Brain series. Today we’re covering two forces acting on your brain that most people don’t even realize are happening.

In this episode:

• The Verification Tax: the mental exhaustion of constantly trying to figure out what’s real
• Why your brain shuts down under cognitive overload instead of working harder
• Delta wave activity in heavy digital users – your brain showing sleep patterns while you’re awake
• Why misinformation wins when you’re already exhausted
• Attention Hijacking: how social media algorithms manipulate your dopamine system like a slot machine
• Brainwave changes that persist 15+ minutes after you close the app
• Zombie scrolling, doomscrolling, and vicarious traumatization
• The difference between tool AI (you’re driving) and algorithmic AI (you’re the passenger)
• Psychological inoculation: building immunity to manipulation techniques
• Practical boundaries for protecting your cognitive resources

Core message: Tool AI puts you in the driver’s seat. Algorithmic AI puts you in the passenger seat – and the driver doesn’t care where you want to go.

Referenced episodes: Episode 1 (AI Isn’t Coming For Anything), Episode 2 (Cognitive Offloading)

Research Referenced in This Episode:

• The “Brain Rot” Phenomenon: Yousef and colleagues (2025) dive into the concept of “brain rot” in the digital era, exploring what infinite scrolling and low-quality content do to the cognitive health of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Published in Brain Sciences.
• Social Media’s Modern Day High: A 2025 study by Satani et al. tracking real-time brainwave changes—like dopamine spikes, attention hijacking, and cognitive fatigue—while users scroll through social media feeds. Published in Cureus.
• Teen Addiction & Social Media Algorithms: De et al. (2025) explored the neurophysiological impacts and ethical concerns of AI-driven social media algorithms that are designed to maximize screen time for teenagers. Published in Cureus.
• Multitasking and Cognitive Load: Boere et al. (2024) used mobile brain-scanning (fNIRS) to measure exactly what happens to the prefrontal cortex when our brains are forced to handle complex multitasking and cognitive overload. Published in Neuroimage: Reports.
• Screen Time & Teen Depression: A massive dose-response meta-analysis by Liu et al. (2022) that quantifies how every extra hour spent on social media increases the risk of depression in adolescents. Published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
• Passive Scrolling and Depression: Wang et al. (2025) researched how passive social media consumption links to “fear of missing out” (FOMO), vicarious traumatization, and depression during public health crises. Published in Frontiers in Psychology.
• Why Misinformation Persists: Zhou & Shen (2024) explain the cognitive fallacies and motivational biases that make fake news and misinformation so hard to debunk, as well as the cognitive cost of skepticism. Published in Frontiers in Psychology.
• Decision Neuroscience & Attention: A 2023 editorial by Chew and colleagues breaking down the brain mechanics behind goal-directed (top-down) versus stimulus-driven (bottom-up) attention. Published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.
• Cognitive Fatigue and Performance: Stafylidis and team (2025) looked into how heavy mental exhaustion and cognitive fatigue mess with vigilance, reaction times, and physical performance. Published in Sports.
• Crisis & Pandemic Fatigue Online: White et al. (2024) break down how internet users express digital fatigue, information avoidance, and feeling overwhelmed by constant emergencies on social media platforms. Published in BMC Public Health.

Last month we explored agency – how AI doesn’t take anything from you, you give it away. This episode goes deeper into the mechanism: what actually happens in your brain when you delegate cognitive tasks to AI?

In this episode:

1. What cognitive offloading is and why AI is different from previous tools
2. The “inverse skills bias” – why AI helps novices more than experts
3. What we gain (speed, reduced load) vs. what we lose (memory formation, skill development)
4. The “inflated knowledge” problem – mistaking AI’s knowledge for your own
5. Digital dementia vs. technological reserve – two competing hypotheses
6. Vending machine users vs. directors – the critical distinction
7. Why friction is the mechanism of growth
8. “Desirable Difficulties” and “Productive Failure” frameworks
9. The key question: Am I trying to get something done, or get better at something?

Core principle: Cognitive offloading isn’t good or bad – it’s a trade-off. Performance now vs. capability later. You decide which tasks to offload and which to struggle through.

Research Referenced:

1. Benge & Scullin (2025). A Meta-Analysis of Technology Use and Cognitive Aging. Nature Human Behaviour.
2. Grinschgl, Papenmeier & Meyerhoff (2021). Consequences of cognitive offloading: Boosting performance but diminishing memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
3. Pyke, Lunau & Javadi (2025). Does difficulty moderate learning? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
4. Chen et al. (2025). Effects of generative AI on cognitive effort and task performance. Trials.
5. Ding et al. (2025). Productive Failure in Cultivating Clinical Thinking. Advances in Medical Education and Practice.
6. Danaher (2024). Generative AI and the future of equality norms. Cognition.
7. Zhozhikashvili et al. (2022). Parietal Alpha Oscillations: Cognitive Load and Mental Toughness. Brain Sciences.
8. Allen (2024). Desirable Difficulty—Make Learning Harder on Purpose. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.
9. Grinschgl & Neubauer (2022). Supporting Cognition With Modern Technology. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence.

Additional Resources & Mentions:

1. Special thanks to Kyle Shannon, host of the AI Learning Lab and founder of the AI Salon, for his concepts of “AI slop,” “chain of craft,” and the floor vs. ceiling distinction. Learn more at thesalon.ai
2. Kyle Shannon interview: Becoming AI Ready: How to Creatively Secure Your Future – AI Explored podcast
3. Quote from Cisco VP Anand Sampath about humans being “pushed up the stack” sourced from The Rundown AI newsletter

Referenced Episodes:

1. Episode 1: AI Isn’t Coming For Anything – It’s Your Responsibility

AI is about to become invisible – like electricity. And when that happens, we’ll stop examining what it’s doing to how we think, work, and develop skills.

This is the first episode in a multi-part series exploring AI and your brain. We’re not doing hype or fearmongering – we’re examining the neuroscience of what happens when you delegate cognitive tasks to these systems.

In this episode:

1. Why AI becoming “boring” is actually when we need to pay closest attention
2. The inversion: AI trajectory vs. human factor trajectory
3. Three types of AI and which one this series focuses on
4. The agency frame: You’re not a victim of this technology
5. The friction question: Which challenges should you keep vs. remove?
6. What’s coming in the rest of the series

Core principle: AI doesn’t take your agency. You give it away – or you don’t. This technology will reshape your brain based on how you choose to use it.

Referenced episodes: Neuroplasticity (Ep 1), Decision Fatigue (Ep 5), Brain Rewiring (Ep 7), Stuck Patterns (Ep 9)

Marco Rigazio

Copyright 2026 Marco Rigazio

You know your year won’t be smooth. So why plan like it will be?

In this episode, I break down my 2026 planning strategy – not rigid annual goals, but quarterly focus that adapts to reality. Drawing from competitive powerlifting training, I share why backward planning works, how to maintain agency when life gets chaotic, and why 90-day sprints beat 12-month marathons.

What You’ll Learn:

1. Why structure creates agency (not rigidity) and the neuroscience of locus of control
2. The powerlifting method: backward planning from specific outcomes
3. Where to focus vs. where to allow variety – and why this matters for your brain
4. Why quarterly reassessment beats rigid annual planning
5. My Q1 2026 focus: Political voice acting and the strategy behind it
6. How to choose YOUR Q1 focus (with examples)

Free Download: Quarterly Focus Planner

Research Cited: Amar, I.B., et al. (2023). The relationship between locus of control and pre-competitive anxiety. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1227571

Episode Callbacks: Episodes 5 (Decision Fatigue), 6 (Dopamine), 7 (Rewiring for Resilience)

Your Q1 Challenge: Before January 15, pick ONE concrete, measurable focus for your Q1. Work backward to weekly actions. Execute for 90 days. Reassess for Q2.

Contact: marco@thecognitiveperformer.com

Copyright 2026 Marco Rigazio

Why do we stay in patterns that hurt us? Why do we return to familiar anger, destructive relationships, or self-defeating habits even when we logically know better? In this episode, we explore the neuroscience of why the brain mistakes familiarity for safety – and what it takes to actually change.

In This Episode:

• Why “knowing better” doesn’t equal “doing better”
• The two minds competing inside your brain (and which one usually wins)
• How your hippocampus keeps you stuck in the familiar
• The aversion amplifier: why change feels dangerous even when it’s good
• Five science-backed conditions for creating lasting change

SOURCES REFERENCED:

Brain Systems & Memory:

• Dual hippocampal memory systems (associative vs. predictive coding) – optogenetic study in rats demonstrating separate memory pathways for familiarity and navigation

Default Mode Network:

• DMN activation patterns in depression and rumination – increased self-referential processing maintains negative narratives

Aversion & Threat Processing:

• Interpeduncular nucleus (IPN) circuit amplifies aversive experiences – isolated brainstem pathway that intensifies discomfort without triggering general anxiety

Cognitive Flexibility:

• Brain signal variability correlates with cognitive flexibility – higher variability in inferior frontal junction predicts better task-switching ability

Model Arbitration:

• Amygdala’s role in arbitrating between habit-based and goal-directed learning systems

Quote:

• Scott Galloway: “It’s very difficult to read the label from inside the bottle”

Your gut is talking — and your brain is listening. Discover how diet, microbiota, and even fasting reshape your brain chemistry, mood, and cognition in this deep dive into the gut-brain connection.

Your gut is talking to your brain — and your brain is listening. In this episode of The Cognitive Performer, we explore the gut-brain axis — the communication highway connecting your digestive system and your mind. Discover how trillions of microorganisms influence your mood, focus, memory, and long-term brain health. We’ll look at how diet shapes your microbiome, why certain bacteria can act like microscopic pharmacists, and what dietary patterns best protect cognitive function. From the serotonin-shaping power of Roseburia intestinalis to the fasting-linked boost in microglial cleanup, this episode unpacks the real neuroscience behind “gut feelings.”

Key Takeaways

• Roughly 90 % of the vagus-nerve signals run from gut → brain, not the other way around.
• The gut microbiome produces neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and GABA that directly influence mood and cognition.
• Stress diverts tryptophan from serotonin production toward inflammation — but beneficial bacteria can reverse that shift.
• Mediterranean, DASH, and MIND diets consistently support brain health by nourishing diverse gut bacteria.
• Alternate-day fasting reshapes gut microbes and improves microglial function, translating into measurable cognitive gains.
• Building cognitive reserve through learning, social connection, movement, and sleep can cut dementia risk nearly in half.

Links and Resources

1. Qu S et al. (2024). Gut microbiota modulates neurotransmitter and gut-brain signaling. Microbiological Research, 287.
2. Zhou M. F. et al. (2023). Microbiome and the kynurenine metabolic pathway in depression. Microbiome, 11.
3. Gong Y et al. (2025). Healthy dietary patterns and cognitive performance. J. Prev. Alzheimer’s Dis., 12.
4. Mela V et al. (2025). Microbiota fasting-related changes ameliorate cognitive decline in obesity. Gut.
5. Ward N A et al. (2023). PROMED-EX Randomised Controlled Trial. BMJ Open, 13.
6. Bekdash R A (2024). Epigenetics, Nutrition, and the Brain. Int. J. Mol. Sci., 25.
7. Margolis K G et al. (2021). Microbiota-gut-brain axis modulation of enteric and central nervous system function. Gastroenterology, 160.
8. Cryan J F et al. (2021). Diet, microbiota, and host behavior — narrative review. Adv. Nutrition.

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