Can OpenAI o1 outperform humans in higher-order cognitive thinking?

Can OpenAI o1 outperform humans in higher-order cognitive thinking? | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Can OpenAI o1 outperform humans in higher-order cognitive thinking? Ehsan Latif, Yifan Zhou, Shuchen Guo, Yizhu Gao, Lehong Shi, Matthew Nyaaba, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7435042/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 12 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study evaluates the performance of OpenAI’s o1-preview model in higher-order cognitive domains, including critical thinking, systematic thinking, computational thinking, data literacy, creative thinking, logical reasoning, and scientific reasoning. Using established benchmarks, we compared the o1-preview models’s performance to human participants from diverse educational levels. o1-preview achieved a mean score of 24.33 on the Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test (EWCTET), surpassing undergraduate (13.8) and postgraduate (18.39) participants (z = 1.60 and 0.90, respectively). In systematic thinking, it scored 46.1 ± 4.12 on the Lake Urmia Vignette, significantly outperforming the human mean (20.08 ± 8.13, z = 3.20). For data literacy, o1-preview scored 8.60 ± 0.70 on Merk et al.’s “Use Data” dimension, compared to the human post-test mean of 4.17 ± 2.02 (z = 2.19). On creative thinking tasks, the model achieved originality scores of 2.98 ± 0.73, higher than the human mean of 1.74 (z = 0.71). In logical reasoning (LogiQA), it outperformed humans with 90% ± 10 accuracy versus 86% ± 6.5 (z = 0.62). For scientific reasoning, it achieved near-perfect performance (0.99 ± 0.12) on the TOSLS" exceeding the highest human scores of 0.85 ± 0.13 (z = 1.78). While o1-preview excelled in structured tasks, it showed limitations in problem-solving and adaptive reasoning. These results demonstrate the potential of AI to complement education in structured assessments but highlight the need for ethical oversight and refinement for broader applications. Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 06 Nov, 2025 Reviews received at journal 05 Nov, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 20 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 22 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 22 Sep, 2025 Editor invited by journal 17 Sep, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 16 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 16 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7435042","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":519600347,"identity":"25ea971b-bc29-457e-a8db-861319971b45","order_by":0,"name":"Ehsan Latif","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Georgia","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ehsan","middleName":"","lastName":"Latif","suffix":""},{"id":519600348,"identity":"338e7a13-6709-4ce1-aa5b-fcd21b73bc1e","order_by":1,"name":"Yifan Zhou","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of 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Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7435042/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7435042/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"This study evaluates the performance of OpenAI’s o1-preview model in higher-order cognitive domains, including critical thinking, systematic thinking, computational thinking, data literacy, creative thinking, logical reasoning, and scientific reasoning. Using established benchmarks, we compared the o1-preview models’s performance to human participants from diverse educational levels. o1-preview achieved a mean score of 24.33 on the Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test (EWCTET), surpassing undergraduate (13.8) and postgraduate (18.39) participants (z = 1.60 and 0.90, respectively). In systematic thinking, it scored 46.1 ± 4.12 on the Lake Urmia Vignette, significantly outperforming the human mean (20.08 ± 8.13, z = 3.20). For data literacy, o1-preview scored 8.60 ± 0.70 on Merk et al.’s “Use Data” dimension, compared to the human post-test mean of 4.17 ± 2.02 (z = 2.19). On creative thinking tasks, the model achieved originality scores of 2.98 ± 0.73, higher than the human mean of 1.74 (z = 0.71). In logical reasoning (LogiQA), it outperformed humans with 90% ± 10 accuracy versus 86% ± 6.5 (z = 0.62). For scientific reasoning, it achieved near-perfect performance (0.99 ± 0.12) on the TOSLS\" exceeding the highest human scores of 0.85 ± 0.13 (z = 1.78). While o1-preview excelled in structured tasks, it showed limitations in problem-solving and adaptive reasoning. These results demonstrate the potential of AI to complement education in structured assessments but highlight the need for ethical oversight and refinement for broader applications.","manuscriptTitle":"Can OpenAI o1 outperform humans in higher-order cognitive thinking?","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-03 03:26:54","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7435042/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-11-06T18:16:20+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-11-06T03:01:05+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"231908362747039081027355799037483038497","date":"2025-10-27T15:47:53+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-21T02:19:29+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"310571237939376328911418579072977249239","date":"2025-10-18T03:33:52+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"183369596793870664959960140213330097179","date":"2025-10-15T14:43:29+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"285598477322752234216262934225404783161","date":"2025-09-22T10:40:23+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-22T10:01:06+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-09-22T09:58:58+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-17T18:34:37+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-09-16T19:38:50+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2025-09-16T11:08:12+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"992338af-6bc6-4df7-a6e0-2ffca4f953ec","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 3rd, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":55224750,"name":"Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing"},{"id":55224751,"name":"Biological sciences/Psychology"},{"id":55224752,"name":"Social science/Psychology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-29T16:05:19+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7435042","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-33629-9","journal":{"identity":"scientific-reports","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Scientific Reports"},"publishedOn":"2025-12-26 15:57:14","publishedOnDateReadable":"December 26th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-03 03:26:54","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41598-025-33629-9","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-33629-9","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7435042","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7435042","identity":"rs-7435042","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}