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The term cognition is used in different ways by different disciplines. In psychology, it refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological functions. Information processing is the change (processing of Information in any manner detectable by an observer. Functionalism is a memory of a philosophical basis for much empirical research in Psychology and Cognitive science, which says that “ Mental states Other interpretations of the meaning of cognition link it to the development of concepts; individual minds, groups, organizations, and even larger coalitions of entities, can be modelled as societies which cooperate to form concepts. An entity is something that has a distinct separate Existence, though it need not be a material existence The Society of Mind is a book and theory of natural intelligence as written and developed by Marvin Minsky. Distinguish from Corporation. Cooperation, co-operation, or coöperation is the process of working or acting together The term "concept" is traced back to 1554–60 ( l conceptum - something conceived but what is today termed "the classical theory of concepts" is the theory of Aristotle The autonomous elements of each 'society' would have the opportunity to demonstrate emergent behavior in the face of some crisis or opportunity. A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions For other uses see Emergence (disambiguation, Emergent, and Emergency. Cognition can also be interpreted as "understanding and trying to make sense of the world".

Contents

Introduction

The term cognition (Latin: cognoscere, "to know") is used in several loosely related ways to refer to a faculty for the human-like processing of information, applying knowledge and changing preferences. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Information as a concept has a diversity of meanings from everyday usage to technical settings Cognition or cognitive processes can be natural and artificial, conscious and not conscious; therefore, they are analyzed from different perspectives and in different contexts, in anesthesia, neurology, psychology, philosophy, systemics and computer science. Anesthesia, or anaesthesia (see spelling differences; from Greek grc αν- an-, "without" and grc αἲσθησις Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Systemics is the emerging branch of Science that studies Holistic Systems It tries to develop logical mathematical engineering and philosophical paradigms Computer science (or computing science) is the study and the Science of the theoretical foundations of Information and Computation and their The concept of cognition is closely related to such abstract concepts as mind, reasoning, perception, intelligence, learning, and many others that describe numerous capabilities of the human mind and expected properties of artificial or synthetic intelligence. The term "concept" is traced back to 1554–60 ( l conceptum - something conceived but what is today termed "the classical theory of concepts" is the theory of Aristotle MIND ( Moving In New Directions) (est 1975 is an alternative education high school in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Reasoning is the cognitive process of looking for Reasons for beliefs conclusions actions or feelings In Psychology and the Cognitive sciences perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory Information. Intelligence (also called intellect) is an Umbrella term used to describe a property of the Mind that encompasses many related abilities such as the capacities In the fields of Neuropsychology, Personal development and Education, Learning is one of the most important Mental function of humans Cognition is an abstract property of advanced living organisms; therefore, it is studied as a direct property of a brain or of an abstract mind on sub-symbolic and symbolic levels.

In psychology and in artificial intelligence, it is used to refer to the mental functions, mental processes and states of intelligent entities (humans, human organizations, highly autonomous robots), with a particular focus toward the study of such mental processes as comprehension, inferencing, decision-making, planning and learning (see also cognitive science and cognitivism). Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Mental functions and cognitive Processes are terms often used interchangeably (although not always correctly so the term cognitive tends to have specific Thought and thinking are mental forms and Processes respectively ("thought" is both Intelligence (also called intellect) is an Umbrella term used to describe a property of the Mind that encompasses many related abilities such as the capacities Inference is the act or process of deriving a Conclusion based solely on what one already knows Decision making can be regarded as an outcome of mental processes ( cognitive process) leading to the selection of a course of action among several alternatives Planning in Organizations and Public policy is both the organizational process of creating and maintaining a Plan; and the psychological process of In the fields of Neuropsychology, Personal development and Education, Learning is one of the most important Mental function of humans Cognitive science may be broadly defined as the multidisciplinary study of mind and behavior Recently, advanced cognitive researchers have been especially focused on the capacities of abstraction, generalization, concretization/specialization and meta-reasoning which descriptions involve such concepts as beliefs, knowledge, desires, preferences and intentions of intelligent individuals/objects/agents/systems. --> Abstraction is the process or result of generalization by reducing the information For other uses see Abstract In Philosophy it is commonly considered that every object is either abstract or concrete Knowledge is defined ( Oxford English Dictionary) variously as (i expertise and skills acquired by a person through experience or education the theoretical or practical understanding Preference (also called " taste " or "penchant" is a concept used in the Social sciences particularly Economics. For other uses of Object see Object. In Philosophy, an object is a thing an Entity, or a Being. System (from Latin systēma, in turn from Greek systēma is a set of interacting or interdependent Entities, real or abstract

The term "cognition" is also used in a wider sense to mean the act of knowing or knowledge, and may be interpreted in a social or cultural sense to describe the emergent development of knowledge and concepts within a group that culminates in both thought and action. Knowledge is defined ( Oxford English Dictionary) variously as (i expertise and skills acquired by a person through experience or education the theoretical or practical understanding For other uses see Emergence (disambiguation, Emergent, and Emergency. Thought and thinking are mental forms and Processes respectively ("thought" is both

Cognition in mainstream psychology

The sort of mental processes described as cognitive or cognitive processes are largely influenced by research which has successfully used this paradigm in the past. Consequently, this description tends to apply to processes such as memory, attention, perception, action, problem solving and mental imagery. In Psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store retain and subsequently retrieve information Attention is the Cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things In Psychology and the Cognitive sciences perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory Information. In Philosophy, action has developed into a sub-field called Philosophy of action. Problem solving forms part of thinking. Considered the most complex of all intellectual functions problem solving has been defined as higher-order Cognitive A mental image is an experience that significantly resembles the experience of perceiving some object event or scene but that occurs when the relevant object event or scene is not Traditionally, emotion was not thought of as a cognitive process. An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours This division is now regarded as largely artificial, and much research is currently being undertaken to examine the cognitive psychology of emotion; research also includes one's awareness of strategies and methods of cognition, known as metacognition. Cognitive psychology is a branch of Psychology that investigates internal mental processes such as problem solving memory and language Metacognition is the Knowledge (ie awareness of one's Cognitive processes and the efficient use of this Self-awareness to self-regulate these cognitive

Empirical research into cognition is usually scientific and quantitative, or involves creating models to describe or explain certain behaviors.

While few people would deny that cognitive processes are a function of the brain, a cognitive theory will not necessarily make any reference to the brain or any other biological process (compare neurocognitive). The brain is the center of the Nervous system in animals All Vertebrates and the majority of Invertebrates have a brain Neurocognitive is a term used to describe Cognitive functions closely linked to the function of particular areas Neural pathways or cortical networks in It may purely describe behaviour in terms of information flow or function. Relatively recent fields of study such as cognitive science and neuropsychology aim to bridge this gap, using cognitive paradigms to understand how the brain implements these information-processing functions (see also cognitive neuroscience), or how pure information-processing systems (e. Cognitive science may be broadly defined as the multidisciplinary study of mind and behavior Neuropsychology is the applied scientific discipline that studies the structure and function of the Brain related to specific psychological processes and overt behaviors Cognitive neuroscience is an academic field concerned with the scientific study of biological substrate underlying Cognition, with a specific focus on the neural substrates g. , computers) can simulate cognition (see also artificial intelligence). The branch of psychology that studies brain injury to infer normal cognitive function is called cognitive neuropsychology. Cognitive neuropsychology is a branch of Neuropsychology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the Brain relates to specific psychological The links of cognition to evolutionary demands are studied through the investigation of animal cognition. eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 Animal cognition is the title given to a modern approach to the mental capacities of (non-human Animals. And conversely, evolutionary-based perspectives can inform hypotheses about cognitive functional systems evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology ( EP) attempts to explain mental and psychological traits such as Memory, Perception,

The theoretical school of thought derived from the cognitive approach is often called cognitivism. In Psychology, cognitivism is a theoretical approach in understanding the mind which argues that mental function can be understood by quantitative, positivist

The phenomenal success of the cognitive approach can be seen by its current dominance as the core model in contemporary psychology (usurping behaviorism in the late 1950s). Behaviorism or Behaviourism, also called the learning perspective (where any physical action is a behavior is a philosophy of Psychology based on the The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive

Influence and influences

This success has led to its application within a wide range of areas:

In its widest sense, the field is quite eclectic and draws from a number of areas, such as:

Cognitive ontology

On an individual being level, these questions are studied by the separate fields above, but are also more integrated into cognitive ontology of various kinds. Cognitive ontology is Ontology (study of being which begins from features of human Cognition directly as opposed to its collective summary which is reflected in This challenges the older linguistically dependent views of ontology, wherein one could debate being, perceiving, and doing, with no cognizance of innate human limits, varying human lifeways, and loyalties that may let a being "know" something (see qualia) that for others remains very much in doubt. Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields In Philosophy, ontology (from the Greek, genitive: of being (part " Qualia " (ˈkwɑːliə is "an unfamiliar term for something that could not be more familiar to each of us the ways things seem to us" Doubt, a status between Belief and disbelief, involves Uncertainty or Distrust or lack of sureness of an alleged Fact, an action

On the level of an individual mind, an emergent behavior might be the formation of a new concept, 'bubbling up' from below the conscious level of the mind. For other uses see Emergence (disambiguation, Emergent, and Emergency. A simple way of stating this is that beings preserve their own attention and are at every level concerned with avoiding interruption and distraction. "The Magical Number Seven Plus or Minus Two Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information" is a 1956 paper by the cognitive psychologist George A Such cognitive specialization can be observed in particular in language, with adults markedly less able to hear or say distinctions made in languages to which they were not exposed in youth. Cognitive specialization refers to the theory that learning certain skills inhibits the ability to learn related but dissimilar skills

Cognition as compression

By the 1980s, researchers in the Engineering departments of the University of Leeds, UK hypothesized that 'Cognition is a form of compression', i. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. The University of Leeds is a major teaching and research University in Leeds, West Yorkshire; one of the largest in the United Kingdom with The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located e. , cognition was an economic, not just a philosophical or a psychological, process; in other words, skill in the process of cognition confers a competitive advantage. Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Competitive advantage is a position a firm occupies against its competitors An implication of this view is that choices about what to cognize are being made at all levels from the neurological expression up to species-wide priority setting; in other words, the compression process is a form of optimization. This is a force for self-organizing behavior; thus we have the opportunity to see samples of emergent behavior at each successive level, from individual, to groups of individuals, to formal organizations. Self-organization is a process of Attraction and repulsion in which the internal organization of a System, normally an open system, increases For other uses see Emergence (disambiguation, Emergent, and Emergency.

Cognition as and in a social process

It has been observed since antiquity that language acquisition in human children fails to emerge unless the children are exposed to language. One hotly debated issue is whether the biological contribution includes capacities specific to language acquisition often referred to as Universal grammar. Thus, language acquisition is an example of an emergent behavior. For other uses see Emergence (disambiguation, Emergent, and Emergency. In this case, the individual is made up of a set of mechanisms 'expecting' such input from the social world.

In education, for instance, which has the explicit task in society of developing child cognition, choices are made regarding the environment and permitted action that lead to a formed experience. Education encompasses both the Teaching and Learning of Knowledge, proper conduct, and technical competency A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions The social environment (context, also known as the Milieu, is the identical or similar Social positions and Social roles as a whole that influence the individuals In Philosophy, action has developed into a sub-field called Philosophy of action. Experience as a general concept comprises Knowledge of or skill in or Observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or In social cognition, face perception in human babies emerges by the age of two months. Social cognition is the study of how people process social information especially its encoding storage retrieval and application to social situations Face perception is the process by which the Brain and Mind understand and interpret the Face, particularly the human face This is in turn affected by the risk or cost of providing these, for instance, those associated with a playground or swimming pool or field trip. Risk is a Concept that denotes the precise probability of specific eventualities On the other hand, the macro-choices made by the teachers are extremely influential on the micro-choices made by children.

In a large systemic perspective, cognition is considered closely related to the social and human organization functioning and constrains. In the Social sciences, specifically Sociology and Sociocultural anthropology, functionalism (also called functional analysis) is a Sociological Managerial decision making processes can be erroneous in politics, economy and industry for the reason of different reciprocally dependent socio-cognitive factors. Management (covering theory practice and scope of management and Manager' (covering the people who manage might help clarify and systematise Decision making can be regarded as an outcome of mental processes ( cognitive process) leading to the selection of a course of action among several alternatives This domain became the field of interest of emergent socio-cognitive engineering (Google search).

Cognition in a cultural context

Earthrise

One famous image, Earthrise, taken during Apollo 8, the first Apollo mission to the Moon, shows planet Earth in a single photograph. For the upcoming MMORPG see Earthrise (video game. For other uses see Earthrise (disambiguation. Earthrise is now the icon for Earth Day, which did not arise until after the image became widespread. Earth Day is one of two Observances both held annually during spring in the Northern hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern hemisphere. At this level, an example of an 'emergent behavior' might be concern for Spaceship Earth, as encouraged by the development of orbiting space observatories etc. Spaceship is a World view term usually expressing concern over the use of limited resources available on Earth. A space observatory is any instrument in Outer space which is used for observation of distant planets galaxies and other outer space objects

Other concepts which seem to have arisen only recently (in the last century) include increased expectations for human rights. Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled In this case, an example of an 'emergent behavior' might perhaps be the use of the mass media to publicize inequities in the human condition, perhaps using highly portable cameras and telephones. "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press" The human condition encompasses all of the Experience of being Human.

Example of emergent organization

It is possible to find other examples of critical mass necessary to develop a concept. For example, a nascent coalition of individuals might fail in the implementation of some agreement among them; but in the words of Ward Cunningham, the inventor of the Wiki-wiki Web:

I thought there would be failure modes, but I wasn't surprised that communities found ways around them. A coalition is an alliance among individuals during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own Self-interest. I thought it was important that when the organization proved to be wrong, people could reorganize on their own, that organization could emerge.

In other words, when the organization adapted, the concept adapted and survived the incipient failure mode.

See also

In addition to the topics below, see the List of thinking-related topics

Wikipedia portals

References

External links

Dictionary

cognition

-noun

  1. The process of knowing.
  2. the consciously or sub-consciously comprehended senses; a comprehension of subjectivity
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