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university students. This study aims to fill that gap by developing an integrated approach
that connects technological elements with underlying cognitive and neurological
mechanisms.Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the cognitive challenges
faced by university students in the modern information environment and to seek
strategies to maintain and develop deep thinking in the context of increasingly advanced
technology.
2. Theoretical framework
Identify practical problems
In practice, many university lecturers have observed that a segment of students
tend to approach knowledge quickly and superficially, dedicating little time to in-depth
reading, reasoning, or critical thinking. This raises concerns about a decline in deep
thinking skills – a crucial competency in higher education, particularly in fields requiring
analytical, synthetic, and complex problem-solving abilities. However, despite these
changes being evident in educational practice, there is still a lack of systematic research
analyzing the relationship between the consumption of fast-paced media, the use of
artificial intelligence in learning, and the development of deep thinking skills in students.
Identifying and analyzing this issue is essential to understanding the cognitive
challenges students face in today's digital learning environment. Therefore, this study
was conducted to clarify the practical aspects of the issue and contribute to finding
solutions to help develop deep thinking skills in students in the context of increasingly
developing technology and digital media.
Based on the identified research problem, this paper focuses on analyzing the
following key aspects. First, the study will analyze the cognitive and neurological
mechanisms involved in the formation of deep thinking, including the role of the
attention system, working memory, hippocampus, and long-term memory consolidation
in the brain. Second, the study will examine how the digital media environment,
particularly fast-paced media content, affects the brain's attention system. Frequent
exposure to short, highly stimulating content can alter how students maintain attention
and process information during learning. Third, the study will analyze the role of artificial
intelligence in university learning, particularly how students use AI tools to support their
learning. The paper will examine the difference between using AI as a thinking support
tool and over-reliance on AI to replace independent thinking processes. Finally, based on
the above analysis, this paper will propose directions to help develop deep thinking skills
for students in the digital age. These directions may include designing appropriate
learning methods, adjusting the use of technology in education, and building learning
strategies that help students maintain their analytical and critical thinking abilities.
2.1. Neuroscience of deep thinking and long-term memory
Memory is one of the most important cognitive functions of the human brain,
serving as the foundation for learning, thinking, and the development of knowledge.
Thanks to memory, humans can retain information, accumulate experience, and build
increasingly complex systems of understanding. However, not all information that
humans receive is stored long-term. Most information is quickly forgotten if it does not
undergo the necessary neural processing.
From a cognitive neuroscience perspective, the formation of long-term memory is
not a simple phenomenon but the result of a series of complex biological mechanisms.
These mechanisms involve multiple brain structures such as the hippocampus, the
neocortex, as well as processes such as information encoding, memory consolidation, and

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