COGNITION: PROCESSES, CHARACTERISTICS AND STRUCTURE - NEUROPSYCHOLOGY - 2024

The Cognition is the ability of living beings to process information from the perception, knowledge and subjective characteristics. It encompasses processes such as learning, reasoning, attention, memory, problem solving, decision-making or the elaboration of feelings.

The study of cognition has been carried out from different perspectives such as neurology, psychology, psychoanalysis, sociology or philosophy. In this sense, cognition is interpreted as a global mental process that allows the processing of information that accesses the minds of human beings.

Cognition is characterized by being a process closely related to other abstract concepts such as the mind, perception, reasoning, intelligence or learning.

In this article the characteristics of cognition are explained, the main cognitive processes of human beings, cognitive structure and cognitive activity are reviewed.

Features of cognition

The word cognition comes from Latin, where "cognoscere" means to know. Thus, in its broadest and etymological sense, cognition refers to everything that belongs to or is related to knowledge.

Cognition is therefore the accumulation of all the information that people acquire throughout their lives through learning and experiences.

More specifically, the most widely accepted definition of cognition today is the ability of living beings to process information from perception.

That is, through the capture of stimuli from the outside world through the senses, the person initiates a series of procedures that allow the acquisition of information and is defined as cognition.

Cognition is therefore a process that is carried out by the brain structures of people and that implies the performance of more than one activity that allows learning to develop.

The main cognitive processes that cognition encompasses are learning, attention, memory, language, reasoning, and decision-making. The joint execution of these activities gives rise to the cognitive process and the transformation of sensory stimuli into knowledge.

Cognitive activity

Cognitive activity presents a series of characteristics that define its functioning. In general terms, the properties of cognitive activity define a good part of cognition as a mental process.

Cognitive activity is characterized by being:

Sensory process

Cognitive activity is a mental process through which the person is able to capture and perceive aspects of reality. This activity is carried out through the sensory organs and has the main purpose of understanding reality.

Integration process

Cognitive activity involves processes of reception, integration, relationship and modification of the surrounding information.

In this sense, information is not perceived passively but actively. The person modifies and adapts the captured stimuli to generate knowledge through cognition.

Idea creation

Cognition is the method by which the person is able to assimilate ideas, form images and generate the construction of knowledge.

Without cognitive activity, people would be unable to generate their own and elaborate knowledge, and would perceive the world in a passive way.

Structuring process

Finally, cognitive activity is characterized by being a process that allows to contribute structure and organization to knowledge.

The information produced through cognition is integrated in a global way and generates hierarchical classifications that give rise to the cognitive structure of the person.

Cognitive structure

Multiple investigations have focused on studying the elements that make up the structure of cognition. That is, to determine what aspects participate in cognitive processes.

In this sense, it is argued that cognition is an activity that involves the performance of multiple processes. Cognition is therefore a generalized mental procedure that encompasses different tasks.

At present there is some controversy when defining the cognitive structure. Cognition is a broad and abstract mental process that often plans divergences in establishing its functioning.

However, today there is a certain consensus in establishing that the main aspects of cognitive structure are the following.

Observation

The first activity performed in cognition is observation, that is, the detection and assimilation of one or more visual elements.

The observation is carried out through the sense of sight and allows the capture of the stimulus and the reception of pertinent information.

Variable identification

Research on cognition indicates that the second activity of the cognitive structure consists of identifying the variables.

This means that once the stimulus has been captured and perceived, the cognitive processes are in charge of locating the elements or parts involved in the study phenomenon in a precise and precise way.

This activity allows the identification and delimitation of the different characteristics of the elements perceived and gives rise to a first phase of cognitive organization.

Comparison

Parallel to the identification of the stimulus variables, the comparison appears. This process, as its name suggests, tries to compare the perceived elements with the rest of the information that is possessed at the brain level.

The comparison makes it possible to identify the similar and different aspects of each of the perceived elements.

Relationship

Once the stimuli have been identified and compared, the cognitive process focuses on relating the perceived elements.

This action consists of establishing connections between two or more things in order to integrate the acquired information and generate global knowledge.

Ordering

Apart from relating, it is postulated that cognitive activity also implies ordering processes.

Through this activity, elements are arranged and distributed through ordered structures. The ordering is usually carried out based on the characteristics or qualities of the elements and allows organizing knowledge.

Hierarchical classification

Finally, the last aspect of the cognitive structure consists of classifying knowledge in a hierarchical way.

This last activity consists of articulating or relating the various phenomena according to their importance. In general, they can occur from the general to the particular (when using a deductive cognitive method) or from the particular to the general (when using an inductive cognitive method).

Cognitive processes

Cognitive processes are the procedures that are carried out to incorporate new knowledge and make decisions about it.

Cognitive processes are characterized by the participation of various cognitive functions such as perception, attention, memory or reasoning. These cognitive functions work together with the aim of integrating knowledge.

Perception

Perception is the cognitive process that allows us to understand the environment through the interpretation, selection and organization of different types of information.

Perception involves stimuli from the central nervous system that are produced through stimulation of the sense organs.

Hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste are perceptual processes that are essential for cognition. Without their participation, it would be impossible to capture the stimuli, so the information would not access the brain and it would not be able to start the rest of the cognitive processes.

Perception is characterized by being an unconscious process. However, this does not mean that it is a passive activity. Perception is often shaped by prior learning, experiences, education, and items stored in memory.

Attention

Attention is a cognitive process that allows concentrating cognitive abilities on a specific stimulus or activity.

So, in a way, attention is that activity that modulates the functioning of perceptual processes. Attention allows the senses to be focused and concentrated selectively on one aspect of the environment without taking into account the others.

The ability to concentrate and pay attention is an essential skill for people's cognitive functioning. If attention is not focused properly, the uptake of information tends to be weak and it is difficult for it to be stored in brain structures.

In this way, attention is a cognitive process that allows obtaining information, learning and complex reasoning.

Memory

Memory is a complex cognitive function. This allows encoding, storing and retrieving information from the past. In this way, it is interpreted more as a series of cognitive functions rather than as a single activity.

First, working memory is a cognitive activity closely linked to attention. This allows the information received and attended to be retained for a limited period of time (a few seconds) and is essential so as not to forget the stimuli captured.

Subsequently, short-term memory allows you to continue with the retention of information for a somewhat longer period of time, with the aim of starting to memorize the new learning.

Finally, the appearance of long-term memory is that cognitive function that gives rise to the formation of solid and resistant memories over time. It constitutes the content of people's knowledge and allows the retrieval of information stored in brain structures.

Thought

Thought is an abstract function and difficult to define. In general, it is defined as the activity that allows integrating all the information acquired and stored in the brain structures.

However, thought not only operates with previously acquired knowledge, but can also be integrated with the rest of the cognitive functions (perception, attention and memory) to function in parallel with the acquisition of new information.

In this sense, thought is considered to be an indispensable function for the execution of any cognitive process.

Likewise, thinking is an important activity that modulates the activity of perception, attention and memory, for which it feeds back in a bidirectional way with the rest of the cognitive functions.

Some of the specific activities that can be carried out through thought are reasoning, synthesis or regulation of problems. In its most general sense, thinking is that activity that gives rise to executive functions.

Language

The determination of language as a cognitive function is somewhat more controversial. To make this relationship between cognition and language it is important to bear in mind that language does not only imply the act of speaking.

By language is interpreted all activity that aims to give meaning and expression (both internal and external) to the perceived stimuli.

In other words, language allows naming the abstract elements that are perceived and is a fundamental function to organize and structure all the knowledge that a person possesses.

Likewise, language plays a fundamental role in the expression and transmission of knowledge, ideas and feelings of individuals. Through this activity, people are able to communicate with each other, organize the world and transmit information through different channels.

Learning

Finally, learning is that cognitive process through which people are able to incorporate new information to elements previously stored and organized in their mind.

Learning is responsible for including all kinds of elements in people's knowledge. These can be of any nature and include both the learning of simple behaviors or habits and the acquisition of complex skills or elaborate content.

The role of learning on cognition is highly important, since it modulates the cognitive process in a comprehensive way.

As the famous Swiss psychologist Jean William Fritz Piaget postulated, learning results from that cognitive process in which information enters the cognitive system and modifies it.

This leads to interpreting learning as a dynamic cognitive function. Learning integrates, over time, diverse information, a fact that modifies the individual's knowledge and cognitive functioning.

References

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