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The term cognition ( processing of Information . In Psychology , it is used to refer to the Mental Process es of an individual, with a particular focus toward the study and understanding of mental states (ie. Belief s, desires and intentions) in terms of Information Processing especially in the area of ''context awareness'' (ie. Abstraction or Concretization ), or where processes involving knowledge, expertise, or learning are at work. 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 culminate in both Thought and action. 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 . Traditionally Emotion was not thought of as a cognitive process. 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 . Empirical research into cognition is usually scientific and quantitative, or involves creating models to describe or explain certain behaviours. While few people would deny that cognitive processes are the responsibility of the Brain , a cognitive theory will not necessarily make any reference to the brain or any other biological process (compare Neurocognitive ). 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.g. computers) can simulate cognition (see also Artificial Intelligence ). The branch of psychology which studies brain injury to infer normal cognitive function is called Cognitive Neuropsychology . The links of cognition to Evolution ary demands are studied through the investigation of Animal Cognition . And conversly, evolutionary-based perspectives can inform hypotheses about cognitive functional systems Evolutionary Psychology . The theoretical school of thought derived from the cognitive approach is often called Cognitivism . 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 ). Influence and influences This success has led to it being applied in 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. This challenges the older Linguistic ally-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 . 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. A simple way of stating this is that beings preserve their own attention and are at every level concerned with avoiding ''interruption'' And ''distraction'' . 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. 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.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 . 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, to societies. COGNITION AS A SOCIAL PROCESS In multiple Observation s, some dating back to antiquity, Language Acquisition in human children, fails to emerge unless the children are exposed to language. Thus 'language acquisition' is an example of an 'emergent behavior', which in fact requires a narrow, yet evolutionarily reliably occurring, set of inputs. In this case, the individual is made up of a set of mechanisms 'expecting' such input form 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 . 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. The macro-choices made by the Political Economy in effect will be extremely influential on the micro-choices made by the teachers or children. So at least on this level, there is feedback between the economic choice and the psychology of the activity. In Social Cognition , Face Perception in human babies emerges by the age of two months. COGNITION IN A CULTURAL CONTEXT One famous image, '' Earthrise '', taken during Apollo 8 , the first Apollo mission to the Moon, shows planet Earth in a single photograph. ''Earthrise'' is now the icon for Earth Day , which did not arise until after the image became widespread. 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. Other concepts which seem to have arisen only recently (in the last century) include increased expectations for Human Rights . 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. 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. 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. SUMMARY ''Cognition'' is a diffuse term and is used in radically different ways by different disciplines. In psychology, it refers to an Information Processing view of an individual's psychological functions. Wider 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 . The autonomous elements of each ' Society ' would have the opportunity to demonstrate Emergent Behavior in the face of some crisis or opportunity. RELATED FIELDS
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