Cognition  

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Revision as of 12:22, 30 June 2013

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In science, cognition is a group of mental processes that includes attention, memory, producing and understanding language, learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making. Various disciplines, such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science all study cognition. However, the term's usage varies across disciplines; for example, in psychology and cognitive science, "cognition" usually refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological functions. It is also used in a branch of social psychology called social cognition to explain attitudes, attribution, and groups dynamics. In cognitive psychology and cognitive engineering, cognition is typically assumed to be information processing in a participant’s or operator’s mind or brain.

Cognition is a faculty for the processing of information, applying knowledge, and changing preferences. Cognition, or cognitive processes, can be natural or artificial, conscious or unconscious. These processes are analyzed from different perspectives within different contexts, notably in the fields of linguistics, anesthesia, neurology and psychiatry, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, systemics, and computer science. Within psychology or philosophy, the concept of cognition is closely related to abstract concepts such as mind, intelligence. It encompasses the mental functions, mental processes (thoughts), and states of intelligent entities (humans, collaborative groups, human organizations, highly autonomous machines, and artificial intelligences).

See also

• Animal cognition
• Cognitive bias
• Cognitive dissonance
• Cognitive linguistics
• Cognitive module
• Cognitive psychology
• Cognitive space
• Cognitive style
• Comparative Cognition
• Decade of the Mind
• Educational psychology
• Embodied cognition
• Epigenetics in psychology
• Functional neuroimaging
• Gestalt psychology
• Goal orientation
• Group cognition
• Holonomic brain theory
• Ideasthesia
• Intentionality
• List of cognitive scientists
• Mind-body problem
• Molecular Cellular Cognition
• Numerical cognition
• Personal knowledge management
• Philosophy of mind
• Piaget's theory of cognitive development
• Santiago theory of cognition
• Situated cognition
• Spatial Cognition
• Theory of cognitive development
• Theory of mind
• Wason selection task