As someone who, at a point, would copy homework from someone else, copy book reports from online, and use the answer sheets to complete assignments, I can tell you this strategy is long known to accumulate and not prevent cognitive debt
I was pretty good at it - mostly remembered to change the name at the top of the paper too.
Struggled at moderated exams; think it must have been the time pressure or something.
When you say "long known" it sounds like this is established science. Is there a link you can share?