When we talk about cognitive processes, we are referring to all those mental functions that allow us to receive, store and process all the information that comes to us from the environment. This process is basic and fundamental in human beings because thanks to it we can perceive, understand and interact better in the environment that surrounds us.
All these mental processes have in their background the involvement of millions of neurons that are connected to each other and that allow us to process information appropriately. In this Psychology-Online article, we will talk about the Basic and higher cognitive processes: examples and typeswe are going to know in detail what each of them consists of.
Basic cognitive processes and examples
We all have certain skills that allow us to carry out our daily tasks, such as knowing where we are going, perceive the changes that occur in our environment, put the focus of our attention where we want it, make simple and important decisions, remember what we have to do during the day, recognize sounds, calculate how much we have to pay when shopping, among many other basic and indispensable actions in our daily lives.
Basic cognitive processes are extremely important since they are the basis that will allow us to receive information, store it and use it to later carry out higher cognitive processes.
Sensation and perception
It’s about the way in which we feel and perceive the world through our senses without apparent effort. We can receive information from our environment and also from our own body, which allows us to interpret everything we perceive and understand the environment and our own reality in a coherent and organized way. Thanks to our senses we can know the different types of objects that exist in the world, perceive images, sensations, among many other things, which is an immediate source of knowledge.
- Example: Through the sense of sight we can observe a large number of visual scenes that allow us to know our environment (objects, people, signs, symbols, etc.) Our sense of hearing allows us to hear a wide range of sounds existing in our environment. environment (sounds, volume, ringtone, etc.)
Memory
As we all know, memory allows us to find answers to certain questions such as knowing our own date of birth, remember events that happened in the past, what they just told us a few moments ago, among many other things. Memory is what allows us analyze and organize information that we receive from abroad and then recover it when we want it. It is worth mentioning that there are different types of memory such as sensory, long and short-term memory, working memory, semantic, autobiographical, among others.
- Example: Some examples of what sensory memory would be is we perceive a smell in the environment and it makes us remember some event that happened to us in the past that was significant for us. Another example could be when we listen to a song and it makes us remember a specific person or event that has marked us in a certain way.
Attention
This basic cognitive process refers to our ability to concentrate in a large number of stimuli, as well as those that are of special interest to us. Fortunately, people do not need to pay attention all the time to all the stimuli that appear in our environment because there are some that are automated due to their constant repetition, such as the action of walking, breathing, chewing, among others. However, there are times where our level of attention and concentration must increase and this requires greater conscious effort.
- Example: When a friend has something important to tell us, so we decide to stop paying attention to the stimuli in the environment and make an effort to focus solely on what our friend is telling us. Another example would be when we are asked in class or at work to present a specific topic and we have to put all our concentration on it.
Higher cognitive processes: examples and types
The higher cognitive processes They are those that are carried out after the basic ones and are responsible for integrating the information that is already available to the maximum. Generally these are conscious processes and require greater mental effort to carry them out. Therefore, we are going to describe the most important cognitive processes in education.
Thought
It is a mental process that is responsible for reasoning, solving the problems of everyday life, among many more functions due to its complexity and heterogeneity. In order to carry out all these actions, we need to create concepts in our mind, organize our ideas, group objects, people, among other elements.
- Example: When we want to make the decision of which university major to study, we begin to organize our ideas and have thoughts where we analyze the pros and cons of opting for a certain major and not another. Finally we make the best decision that suits our way of being and the goals we intend to achieve in life.
Language
Language is the ability that all human beings have to emit and understand different types of sounds and words that come from outside in combination with a large number of phrases and letters in order to understand ourselves and communicate with other people.
Apart from verbal language, there is also body language which is with which we communicate with the body through our postures and our gestures, which can also be interpreted by our interlocutor. The development of both types of language continues to develop practically throughout our entire life.
- Example: We can perceive verbal or body language, for example, when a person is telling us something that really does not interest us much but we cannot tell them to stop talking. The person could notice that we are not interested in what they are saying through our body language since we would probably start to yawn, we would look away, our feet would be pointing elsewhere and not towards the person who is talking to us, etc. . which would denote lack of interest. Discover some here.
Other types of higher cognitive processes
The human being is characterized by having a mind capable of processing stimuli and generating responses from said processing. Our higher cognitive processes are very varied and there are more types than language and thought.
Some types of higher cognitive processes are the following:
Intelligence as a cognitive process
Intelligence is one of the main concepts of psychology study, so countless psychologists over time have been reflecting, arguing and making their own conclusions about what intelligence is. Finally, today, it has been concluded that intelligence is not composed solely of a type of ability or aptitude to be able to define it, hence one of the theories that has had the greatest acceptance regarding this concept arises.
Multiple intelligences
It refers to the fact that because there is not only one type of intelligence, different capacities of the person in different areas have to be taken into account. Therefore, he divided intelligence into the following types: intrapersonal, interpersonal, linguistic, musical intelligence, among others. So each person may have some type of intelligence that is more developed than others since it is also considered that this mental process is not static and that it can develop over time.
- Example: A person may have highly developed musical intelligence so they are able to learn faster and read musical notes better, as well as learn to play one or more musical instruments. However, he does not have very developed interpersonal intelligence, so he has problems relating to other people because he has few social skills. you want to know what intelligence do you have developed? can you do click in this link with a curious.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Rivas, MRN (2008). Cognitive processes and meaningful learning. Retrieved January 6, 2019, from http://dide.minedu.gob.pe/bitstream/handle/123456789/4809/Procesos%20cognitivos%20y%20aprendizaje%20significativo.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
- Arranz, AA (2017, October 18). Cognitive processes: What they are and how we can improve our mental processes. Retrieved January 6, 2019, from https://blog.cognifit.com/es/productos-cognitivos/