What Is Cognition?

Basically, cognition is the capacity to think. It goes beyond the memory of information as well as actualities to consider how an individual understands and then uses his or her own knowledge. Cognition allows the individual to understand and make sense of what he feels, sees, and hear so that he can respond properly; make plans in advance and learn from his errors. For example, if a person touches a dry iron, he will swiftly pull his hands back; this is his cognitive ability.

Cognition Elements.

Cognition can be divided into three basic elements: the association of past experience, the ability to make judgment, evaluations, and decisions; the third one is the ability to recognize silent features in a scenario. Each of these features is directly proportional to each other; if you can recognize the silent feature, you will be able to incorporate your experience or include a new information to make a plan, and then you will make decisions. Thus, all of them are linked. We judge people, according to our past experience and we also make decisions according to the past, or we analyze the situation before making the decision.

First

The initial phase in cognition is mindfulness or awareness as well as the potential to concentrate on the key elements in a situation. For instance, at the traffic signal, a lady may need to choose which elements are the most imperative to concentrate: the movement of cars, the traffic light, her ringing smartphone, or the pain in a part of her body. These may be imperative, however, prioritizing them is a crucial if she wants to cross the road securely without getting injured.

Second

After choosing the elements on which to concentrate, the person then uses that particular information to create a plan. Keep in mind that a new information can also be included in this plan to solve a particular problem; for example, new data on gaining the weight. No matter what is the case, the formulation of a plan is the ability of a person; to select the best element as well as the plan, and combine different plans to get the solution.

Final Step

The final cognitive step is to make a decision or thoroughly analyzing an idea. This clearly states that cognition is not a single process, it is dynamic; to access, determine, and to decide. It is a complete mental process.