Sounds to me like the similar "automation dependence" on electronic calculators which crept into the classroom.
I found that some classmates were quite adept at bashing calculator keys parrot-fashion and coming up with the right answers, but were stumped if they had to solve the same problem by hand.
In other words, they didn't understand the reason mathematics worked. They didn't know what the calculator was doing, and why - only that it worked, as if by magic.
It's not enough to teach pilots the procedures of accessing modes on aircraft. You have to teach them why you're accessing those modes. And you have to teach them not just how it responds, but why.