1、Cognitive Ability
What is cognition? This word comes from the Latin root cognoscere, which means "to know". When we talk about cognition, we usually mean everything related to knowledge. In other words, cognition means the accumulation of information that we have acquired through learning and experience. The accepted definition of cognitive ability refers to the ability of our brain to process, store and extract information, that is, what we generally call intelligence, such as observation, attention, memory, and imagination. The understanding of the objective world and the acquisition of various kinds of knowledge mainly depend on our cognitive ability. Cognition includes different cognitive processes, learning, attention, memory, language, reasoning, decision-making, etc., and is an important part of forming our intellectual development.
American psychologist R.M.Gagne proposed five cognitive abilities: verbal information (the ability to answer the question of what the world is); intellectual skills (the ability to answer the why and how question); cognitive strategies (the ability to consciously The ability to regulate and monitor one’s own cognitive processing); Attitude (emotional and emotional responses, forming the learner’s corresponding attitude, instructing the learner to form an internal state or tendency that affects behavior choices); Motor skills (organization, coordination and unity) activities that consist of muscle movements).
What is the cognitive process? We can understand it as the cognitive process in which we make decisions and understand based on all the known knowledge or the acquisition of new knowledge. Different cognitive functions play different roles in these processes: perception, attention, memory, reasoning, etc. Each of these cognitive functions work together to integrate new knowledge and create explanations of the world around us. Learning is seen as a cognitive process: learning is the cognitive process by which we combine new information with our existing knowledge, in other words, learning is the process by which our cognitive systems receive and process information. Learning includes different aspects and different types of things, not limited to learning in textbooks, but also includes social behaviors or good habits that we develop through learning, such as regular brushing of teeth, regular exercise, shaking hands or smiling to say hello, driving politely to pedestrians.
2、Attention
Attention refers to the mental state of a person when he is concentrating on a certain thing or activity. It is the ability of the five major information channels of vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste to pay attention to objective things. Attention is the most basic cognitive function, and we use it frequently in our daily lives. Attention is the foundation of memory, and memory is the result of attention. So there is no good memory without good attention, and good memory is based on good attention. Attention is one of the five basic factors of intelligence, and it is the state of readiness for memory, observation, imagination, and thinking. Therefore, attention is called the portal of the mind and is the basis of all learning. For example, a sufficient perceptual process enables people to learn knowledge, conduct complex reasoning and make correct decisions, because in this process we need to pay close attention, we must ensure that our senses receive external stimuli in time, and ensure that these stimuli are kept within a certain period of time. Effective integration and processing takes place in the brain, and then the correct feedback information is output.
Attention is a complex process that we use in almost all daily activities. Over time, scientists and researchers have discovered that attention is not a single-dimensional process, but a set of different processes. The most famous popular model is currently the hierarchical model of Sohlberg and Mateer (1987, 1989), which is based on clinical cases from experimental neuropsychology. According to this model, attention can be divided into the following parts:
1. Arousal: Refers to our level of activation and alertness, whether or not we are fatigued or active.
2. Attention: refers to the ability to respond to external stimuli.
3. Sustained Attention: The ability to maintain attention for a certain period of time.
4. Selective Attention: The ability to engage in a specific activity or receive a designated stimulus in the presence of other distracting stimuli, allowing us to maintain focus on a task and inhibiting our ability to be distracted by our surroundings.
5. Alternating Attention: The ability to rationally distribute attention between two or more stimuli, which allows us to shift our focus from one task to another.
6. Distributed Attention: The ability to simultaneously participate in different stimuli or attention, that is, to perform multiple tasks at once, or to perform two operations simultaneously.
According to the neuroanatomical model of Posner and Petersen (1990), there are three different attention systems as following:
1. Mesh Activation System (RAS) or Alarm System: This system is primarily responsible for wake-up and sustained attention. It is closely related to the reticular formation and some of its connections, such as the prefrontal region, limbic system, thalamus and basal ganglia.
2. Post-Attention System (PAS) or Orientation System: This system is responsible for focused and selective attention to visual stimuli. Brain regions associated with this system are the posterior parietal cortex, the lateral thalamic vascular nucleus, and the superior colliculus.
3. Anterior Attention System (AAS) or Executive System: This system is responsible for selective attention, sustained attention, and distraction. It is closely related to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, supplementary motor areas, and the neostriatum (striated nucleus).
Inattentiveness is a very common phenomenon among primary and middle school students, and it is also one of the most important problems that troubles our parents. There are various forms of manifestation, if the child often has some of the situations listed below, parents need to raise their awareness, observe their child carefully, and seek professional consultation in time if necessary.
Keep active and can't sit still.
Being listless, absent-minded, or fanciful, and always distracted.
It is easy to be careless and sloppy, with many small mistakes and low efficiency.
Procrastination: there are frequent delays or failure to turn in assignments on time.
Multitasking: can’t do things until the end, the quality of learning and work is low, and the efficiency is not high.
Excessive activity: It’s unable to keep quiet in any situation, hands and feet keep moving, keep interrupting or interfering with adults' activities, usually walk quickly, often run around aimlessly, and do not listen to adults' dissuasion.
Impulsive and capricious: Being emotionally unstable and easy to change, often come to conclusions without thinking, behavior without regard for consequences.
Poor self-control: Do not obey the rules and order, do not listen to the instructions of teachers and parents, do things in a disorderly manner, do everything as they please, cannot cooperate well with others, and are prone to conflicts with others.
Tension in interpersonal relationships: It’s difficult to share items with classmates and friends or to wait in order, they are prone to conflict or disputes with others, they are prone to violent tendencies, it’s difficult to form a normal and stable friendship with classmates, they disobey parents or teachers and often make parents repeatedly experience frustration and anger.
Easily interrupt others’ conversations and respond without thinking, they can’t control their own behavior in accordance with the requirements of society and school, they easily misunderstand, despise or ignore the true meaning of other people’s messages, resulting in tension in interpersonal relationships, it’s easy to be attracted by surrounding fresh stimuli, the self-control and anti-interference ability are poor, they often cannot follow norms and instructions, and have difficulty adapting to collective life and society.
3、Perception
Perception is the ability to feel and perceive. Sensation is the response to the individual properties of things (color, sound, smell) that act directly on the sense organs, that is, the process of receiving information. In simple terms, the senses are the sense organs, namely the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body; corresponding to our sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Perception is the overall response of various parts and attributes generated on the basis of sensation, and is the process of processing information, that is, interpreting sensory information and giving meaning.
Perception is the process or ability to gain awareness and understand our surroundings by interpreting, selecting and organizing different types of information. All sensory activities involve stimulation of the central nervous system. All of these stimuli originate from stimulation of our sensory organs, such as auditory stimulation when a person hears a sound or taste stimulation when someone eats. Perception is not just passive, it can be continuously shaped through learning, experience, education and memory.
Perception includes both the bottom-up and top-down process of processing sensory input. In the bottom-up process, we use the low-level information to construct and build up higher-level information, such as the shape and color of objects, and in the top-down process, certain knowledge and corresponding expectations can influence our perceptions. Different brain parts process different types of sensory information and stimuli. After effective integration, treatment and processing, our brain will output correct feedback information in the form of language, text or body.
Perception can be divided into many types in terms of levels and types. Specific perceptions include: facial expression perception, body language perception, speech tone perception, text reading perception, graphic image perception, tactile perception, smell perception, taste perception, and mental communication perception. Perception is also known as sensibility, which is a unique characteristic of living beings, especially human beings. People with keen perception can react more intensely to external stimuli than ordinary people, and are more likely to observe the beautiful things in life.
4、Memory
Memory is the ability to remember, maintain, re-understand and reproduce the content and experience reflected in objective things. Memory is a complex process that allows us to encode, store and retrieve information. A good memory needs to be supported by attention. If the attention system does not work properly, we will not complete the entire memory process efficiently. If we don't pay attention to something well, we cannot perform the actions of encoding, storing or retrieving information in our brains.
Memory includes many types, mainly including: short-term memory and long-term memory. The essence of short-term memory is the repetition of the immediate physiological and biochemical reactions of the brain. This type of memory is the most numerous and weakest memory in the brain, while long-term memory enables some structural changes in the brain cells that establish a fixed connection. For example, grasping how to ride a bicycle is a long-term memory. Even if you don’t ride a bicycle for many years, you still won’t forget how to ride a bicycle and can still master the balance on the bike. Long-term memory can in turn be broken down into declarative and procedural memories. Declarative memory refers to the memory of the description of things, such as the specific time of the human landing on the moon, which belongs to explicit memory, while procedural memory refers to technical actions, such as: riding a bicycle or driving, which belongs to implicit memory memory. Procedural memory is a kind of inertial memory, also known as skill memory, which is often difficult to describe in words. This kind of memory often requires many attempts to gradually acquire skills and experience. Once acquired, it often does not require the participation of awareness when using this memory.
Obviously, the activity of neurons is the basis of memory, because neurons generate certain memory substances and connect with other neurons to form neural circuits, thereby generating long-term or short-term memory. Until now, researchers have discovered through experiments that new neurons in the hippocampus may be the key to normal learning and memory processes in mice. The study also showed that the hippocampus of adult mice can generate new neurons. Other research has shown that the brain produces new neurons even in adulthood, suggesting that memory can also be enhanced in adults, and it’s very possible that new treatments or techniques for Alzheimer's disease could be developed in the future.
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