Del tutor mecánico al tutor generativo: inteligencia artificial en la educación y sus efectos en la salud cognitiva, mental y emocional de los estudiantes. Revisión integrativa (1955-2026)

Fabián Armando Garzón León

doi:10.22490/26194759.12046

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2027): Vol.10.Núm.1.(2027).

Published 2026-11-15

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Review articles

From the mechanical tutor to the generative tutor: artificial intelligence in education and its effects on students’ cognitive, mental and emotional health. An integrative review (1955-2026)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22490/26194759.12046

Fabián Armando Garzón León National Open and Distance University (UNAD), Bogotá, Colombia

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Abstract
References

Objective. To synthesize evidence on artificial intelligence (AI) in education, from the coining of the term (1955) to 2026, and to analyze its effects on the cognitive, mental and emotional health of students and teachers across educational levels.
Method. Integrative review following Whittemore and Knafl. A systematized PubMed search was run on 27 September 2026 (934 records; 93 reviews), complemented by targeted searches in arXiv, ACM, Nature, PNAS and institutional literature, plus citation tracking. Twenty-three empirical or synthesis sources and fourteen normative and institutional documents were included, graded by level of evidence, and analyzed through thematic and descriptive quantitative synthesis.
Results. AI’s effect depends on pedagogical design. Scaffolded tutors yielded gains of 0.23–0.31 standard deviations in Nigeria and greater learning in university physics. Unrestricted GPT-4 access lowered performance by 17% once removed. Cognitively, offloading is associated with weaker critical thinking and lower neural connectivity during assisted writing (preliminary evidence). Mentally, generative-AI dependence is associated with anxiety, depression and academic burnout, mediated by lower self-efficacy. Heavy daily chatbot use is associated with loneliness and emotional dependence. CBT-based chatbots and clinical simulations show benefits. Evidence is scarce for technical, technological and graduate education.
Conclusions. AI acts as a scaffold or a crutch depending on the design around it. We propose the Protective Scaffolding Model and recommendations for open and distance education.

keywords: Artificial intelligence, Education, distance, Mental health, Cognition, Students, Dependency, psychological

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Garzón León, F. A. (2026). From the mechanical tutor to the generative tutor: artificial intelligence in education and its effects on students’ cognitive, mental and emotional health. An integrative review (1955-2026). Biociencias, 10(1), 21-41. https://doi.org/10.22490/26194759.12046

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