Psychology Study Material: Development of Cognition and Cognitive Ability

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Cognitive Development

Cognitive development is the process of the development of children understanding of the world as a function of age and experience.

Illustration: Cognitive Development

Development of Cognition and Cognitive Ability

Cognition is the process of knowing as well as what is known. It includes ā€œknowledgeā€ which is innateāŸ‹ inborn and present in the form of brain structures and functions. We՚remember the physical environment in which we were brought up and develop perceptual constructs or knowledge accordingly seeing, hearing, sounds etc

Disciplines Interested in the Study and Use of Cognition

The interest in human cognition and its development has been developed and applied in a variety of scientific disciplines:

  • Anthropologists focus on, and measure, how cognition develops in different cultures.
  • Sociologists study how cognitions are acquired and used in various groups and institutional settings.
  • Computer scientists target to create ā€˜artificial intelligenceā€™ .

Psychologists are interested in a better understanding of the human cognitive ability and potentials, how it is utilized in different situations and at different stages.

Nature of Cognition

The very word cognitive refers to the process of knowing as well as the known. Cognition thus, has at least two main aspectsāŸ‹ features i.e.. ,

  • Cognition means ā€˜mental processesā€™ that people use to gatherāŸ‹ acquire knowledge, and
  • Cognition refers to the knowledge that has been gatheredāŸ‹ acquired subsequently used in mental processes

Cognition and Knowledge

  • There is probably no aspect of human life and behaviour that is void of all sorts of cognition ā€¦ not even sleep
  • All human intellectual activities and potentials, i.e.. thinking, communicating, problem solving, and learning require mental processes and knowledge

Factors Influencing the Cognitive Development

  • Long term memory and information processing or working memory are traits of the human infant which exist and operate much earlier than when one is aware of it; these are intact even before birth, but these contents of memory are unknown to consciousness.
  • The ability to control ā€˜mental processesā€™ and ā€˜innateāŸ‹ inborn knowledgeā€™ develops after birth and this may occur largely due to the interaction of the child with the physical environment
  • The child՚s interaction and bonding with the people around has a deep impact. Most often parents especially the mother, also including the caregiversāŸ‹caretakers, are the most significant connections for the development of cognition.