Cognition

Cognition is a complex mental process whereby an individual gains knowledge and understanding of the world. While cognition cannot be neatly dissected into constitutive processes, psychologists point out that it reveals the interplay of such critical psychological mechanisms as perception , attention, memory , imagery, verbal function, judgment, problem-solving, decision-making, with the admixture of other factors, including physical health, educational background, socio-economic status, and cultural identity. A dynamic process, since both the world and the individual are subject to change, cognition is a vital function which enables an individual to exist in the world as an independent and active participant.

Historical background

Before psychology existed as a scientific discipline, the study of cognition was the domain of philosophy. There are two fundamental scientific paradigms-with many variations-regarding cognition in Western philosophy: idealism and empiricism. According to idealistic view, represented by such thinkers as Plato (c. 427-347 b.c.) and René Descartes (1596-1650), innate ideas are the crucial component in cognition; in other words, knowledge is determined by what has been in an individ ual's mind since-or before-birth. The opposing, empiricist view, is succinctly expressed by John Locke's (1632-1704) dictum that, without sense-perceptions, the mind is an empty slate, a tabula rasa. While certain psychologists struggled to determine which of the two paradigms was dominant, the celebrated Swiss cognitive psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) developed a theoretical model of cognition which recognized the importance of both the innate/genetic and the empirical components of cognition. It could be said that cognition depends on both components, just as the successful operation of a computer program requires both the hardware and the software.

How cognition works

Cognition starts with perception. Perception, which occurs in space and time , provides the general framework for cognition; perception is also the process of becoming aware of a stimulus , which can be external or internal. The next step is conceptualization: after realizing the existence of something, we try to figure out what it is: the percept becomes a concept. For example, cognition happens at the instance when the perception "something coming our way" crystallizes as the concept "dog." If the dog is unfriendly, we will use judgment to evaluate our newly acquired knowledge of the situation in an effort to avoid injury. Fortunately, while problem-solving is a key application of the power of judgment in everyday life, not all problems are unpleasant. Working on a mathematical problem, for instance, can be a pleasant, one could say esthetic, experience; the same could be said for any problems requiring creativity and ingenuity, abilities of a higher order than simpler methods, such as the trial-and-error approach. In the realm of the scientific imagination, cognition can, in rare moments, occur as an unexpected flash of illumination. The problem appears to solve itself. One such extraordinary experience is an often quoted mathematical discovery by the French mathematician and philosopher Henri Poincaré (1854-1912). Unable to fall asleep one night, Poincaré thought about a tough problem that he had been grappling with: "Ideas rose in crowds; I felt them collide until pairs interlocked, so to speak, making a stable combination. By the next morning I had established the existence of a new class of Fuchian functions."

Varieties of cognition

Poincaré's experience shows that cognition, while originally stemming from less complex psychological mechanisms, such as perception, is not literally tied to the world of sense-perception. Without contradicting the statement about perception providing the spatio-temporal context of cognition, we can say that cognition also operates in the seemingly unlimited expanses of imaginary space (as in art and mathematics ) and inner space (as in introspection). In addition, while cognition is traditionally defined as rational and conceptual, it can contain such non-intellectual components as feelings, intuitions, and physical acts. The process of learning to play a musical instrument, for example, although a rationally structured endeavor, contains many repetitive, mechanical operations that could be defined as elements of unconscious learning. When the source of new knowledge is unknown, when we do not know why we know something, we are probably dealing with the hidden, silent, non-conceptual dimensions of cognition. A new skill, insight, ability, or perspective suddenly appears "out of nowhere." But this "nowhere" is not really outside the realm of cognition. As in the case of perception, conceptual thinking provides a framework but does not limit cognition. While cognition is certainly limited by human biology , it has no limits of its own. Finally, cognition is also never complete; despite repeated attempts, throughout the history of thought, to create closed intellectual systems postulating absolute knowledge as a theoretical goal, the human mind-as evidenced, for example, by the tremendous development of science since the Scientific Revolution-inevitably finds a way to widen the horizons of knowledge. That cognition is an open-ended process is also demonstrated by the seemingly unlimited human capacity for learning, introspection, change, and adaptation to a changing world.

See also Brain.

Resources

books

Matlin, K.M. Cognition. 3d ed. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1994.

Morris, Charles G. Psychology: An Introduction. 7th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990.

Piaget, Jean. Psychology and Epistemology: Towards a Theory of Knowledge. New York: Viking, 1971.

Polanyi, Michael. The Tacit Dimension. Magnolia, MA: Peter Smith, 1983.

Sheldrake, Rupert. The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance and the Habits of Nature. New York: Random House, 1988.

Zoran Minderovic

KEY TERMS

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Concept

—A mental construct, based on experience, used to identify and separate classes of phenomena. The perceived distinctions between cats and dogs allow us to formulate the concepts "cat" and "dog."

Creativity

—The ability to find solutions to problems and answers to questions without relying on established methods.

Empiricism

—A general philosophical position holding that all knowledge comes from experience, and that humans are not born with any ideas or concepts independent of personal experience.

Idealism

—Scientific thinking based on the view that ultimate reality is immaterial.

Imagination

—The ability to create alternate worlds without losing contact with reality.

Judgment

—The ability to evaluate events and statements.

Percept

—The mental representation of a single perceived event or object.

Scientific paradigm

—A general view shared by groups of scientists.