Cognition
<p>"Cognition" is "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses."<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup> It encompasses processes such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge" title="Knowledge">knowledge</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention" title="Attention">attention</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory" title="Memory">memory</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_memory" title="Working memory">working memory</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_judgment" title="Value judgment">judgment</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaluation" title="Evaluation">evaluation</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason" title="Reason">reasoning</a> and "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computation" title="Computation">computation</a>", <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_solving" title="Problem solving">problem solving</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_making" class="mw-redirect" title="Decision making">decision making</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehension_%28logic%29" title="Comprehension (logic)">comprehension</a> and production of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language" title="Language">language</a>, etc. Human cognition is conscious and unconscious, concrete or abstract, as well as intuitive (like knowledge of a language) and conceptual (like a model of a language). Cognitive processes use existing knowledge and generate new knowledge.
The processes are analyzed from different perspectives within different contexts, notably in the fields of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics" title="Linguistics">linguistics</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anesthesia" title="Anesthesia">anesthesia</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience" title="Neuroscience">neuroscience</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychiatry" title="Psychiatry">psychiatry</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology" title="Psychology">psychology</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education" title="Education">education</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy" title="Philosophy">philosophy</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropology" title="Anthropology">anthropology</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology" title="Biology">biology</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemics" title="Systemics">systemics</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic" title="Logic">logic</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science" title="Computer science">computer science</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup><sup class="noprint Inline-Template" >[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">page needed</a></i>]</sup> These and other different approaches to the analysis of cognition are synthesised in the developing field of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_science" title="Cognitive science">cognitive science</a>, a progressively autonomous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_discipline" class="mw-redirect" title="Academic discipline">academic discipline</a>. Within psychology and philosophy, the concept of cognition is closely related to abstract <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept" title="Concept">concepts</a> such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind" title="Mind">mind</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence" title="Intelligence">intelligence</a>. It encompasses the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_function" class="mw-redirect" title="Mental function">mental functions</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought" title="Thought">mental processes</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought" title="Thought">thoughts</a>), and states of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence" title="Intelligence">intelligent</a> entities (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human" title="Human">humans</a>, collaborative groups, human organizations, highly autonomous machines, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence" title="Artificial intelligence">artificial intelligences</a>).<sup id="cite_ref-Blomberg_3-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition#cite_note-Blomberg-3">[3]</a></sup>
Thus, the term's usage varies across disciplines; for example, in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology" title="Psychology">psychology</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_science" title="Cognitive science">cognitive science</a>, "cognition" usually refers to an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_processing" title="Information processing">information processing</a> view of an individual's psychological <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functionalism%28philosophy_of_mind%29" title="Functionalism (philosophy of mind)">functions</a>. It is also used in a branch of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_psychology" title="Social psychology">social psychology</a> called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cognition" title="Social cognition">social cognition</a> to explain <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attitude%28psychology%29" title="Attitude (psychology)">attitudes</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_%28psychology%29" title="Attribution (psychology)">attribution</a>, and group dynamics.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup> In cognitive psychology and cognitive engineering, cognition is typically assumed to be information processing in a participant’s or operator’s mind or brain.<sup id="cite_ref-Blomberg_3-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition#cite_note-Blomberg-3">[3]</a></sup>
Cognition can in some specific and abstract sense also be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence" title="Artificial intelligence">artificial</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition#cite_note-5">[5]</a></sup>
The term "cognition" is often incorrectly used to mean "cognitive abilities" or "cognitive skills."</p>