# Towards Cognitive Process-Aware Proactive Writing Support

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30424 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.30424/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 32 of its 99 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 31 Aug 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 32)

- [CoAuthor: Designing a Human-AI Collaborative Writing Dataset for Exploring Language Model Capabilities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.06796/) (2022)
- [Co-Writing Screenplays and Theatre Scripts with Language Models: An Evaluation by Industry Professionals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14958/) (2022)
- [Reading Between the Lines: Modeling User Behavior and Costs in AI-Assisted Programming](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.14306/) (2022)
- [A Design Space for Intelligent and Interactive Writing Assistants](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.14117/) (2024)
- [Bridging the Gulf of Envisioning: Cognitive Design Challenges in LLM Interfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.14459/) (2023)
- [Beyond Text Generation: Supporting Writers with Continuous Automatic Text Summaries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.09323/) (2022)
- [Plan, Write, and Revise: an Interactive System for Open-Domain Story Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.02357/) (2019)
- [Need Help? Designing Proactive AI Assistants for Programming](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.04596/) (2024)
- [Choice Over Control: How Users Write with Large Language Models using Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Prompting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.03199/) (2023)
- [Beyond the Chat: Executable and Verifiable Text-Editing with LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15337/) (2023)
- [Assistance or Disruption? Exploring and Evaluating the Design and Trade-offs of Proactive AI Programming Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.18658/) (2025)
- [Interacting with next-phrase suggestions: How suggestion systems aid and influence the cognitive processes of writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.00636/) (2022)
- [Beyond Prompts: Exploring the Design Space of Mixed-Initiative Co-Creativity Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.07465/) (2023)
- [CharacterChat: Supporting the Creation of Fictional Characters through Conversation and Progressive Manifestation with a Chatbot](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.12314/) (2021)
- [Mutual Theory of Mind for Human-AI Communication](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03842/) (2022)
- [Effective Interfaces for Student-Driven Revision Sessions for Argumentative Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.07018/) (2021)
- [Script&Shift: A Layered Interface Paradigm for Integrating Content Development and Rhetorical Strategy with LLM Writing Assistants](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.10638/) (2025)
- [Machine-in-the-Loop Rewriting for Creative Image Captioning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.04193/) (2021)
- [Visual Story-Writing: Writing by Manipulating Visual Representations of Stories](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.07486/) (2024)
- [Where Do I 'Add the Egg'?: Exploring Agency and Ownership in AI Creative Co-Writing Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.15440/) (2025)
- [Developer Interaction Patterns with Proactive AI: A Five-Day Field Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.10253/) (2026)
- [Predicting Desirable Revisions of Evidence and Reasoning in Argumentative Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.05039/) (2023)
- [Behavioral Indicators of Overreliance During Interaction with Conversational Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.11567/) (2026)
- [Polymind: Parallel Visual Diagramming with Large Language Models to Support Prewriting Through Microtasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.09577/) (2025)
- [StorySage: Conversational Autobiography Writing Powered by a Multi-Agent Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.14159/) (2025)
- [Narrix: Remixing Narrative Strategies from Examples for Story Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.07643/) (2026)
- [From Crafting Text to Crafting Thought: Grounding AI Writing Support to Writing Center Pedagogy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.04047/) (2026)
- [CoCo Matrix: Taxonomy of Cognitive Contributions in Co-writing with Intelligent Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.12438/) (2024)
- [Texterial: A Text-as-Material Interaction Paradigm for LLM-Mediated Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.00452/) (2026)
- [PersonaMail: Learning and Adapting Personal Communication Preferences for Context-Aware Email Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.17340/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Large language models can support writing, but existing tools require users to explicitly articulate prompts-particularly burdensome in creative writing, where intentions are often ambiguous. Proactive support that infers users' needs from writing interactions could alleviate this burden, but raises two challenges: determining what support to provide and when to intervene. This work focuses on the former. We hypothesize that Flower and Hayes' cognitive process theory of writing-which characterizes writing through six cognitive processes-offers an interpretable bridge between observable writing behavior and appropriate support types. Through a formative study and literature review, we identify 14 writing support types associated with these cognitive processes, along with characteristic interaction behaviors linked to each process. We then instantiate this framework in AToM CoWriter, which infers support needs from writing interactions and document context. Two within-subjects studies (N = 21) provide initial evidence that this approach improves expressiveness and idea exploration, and that cognitive process inference increases engagement with proactive suggestions. These findings suggest that cognitive processes can provide a promising basis for support selection in proactive writing systems.