Cognitive activity of a person begins from birth and is an integral part of his consciousness. It involves a variety of systems that process information and differ in the channel of its receipt. These are cognitive processes. Let's take a closer look at their content and types.
Cognitive processes are mental phenomena that are necessary for the rational study and understanding of the world around us. These include perception, sensation, imagination, thinking and memory. Each of them is independent, but working together, they provide a person's cognitive activity.
Sensations are related to the fact that there are various effects on the specialized receptor apparatus. Due to this, the body perceives signals of stimuli from the environment (external and internal). Therefore, skin, olfactory, gustatory, auditory, visual, muscular and balance sensations stand out.
Cognitive processes involve perception. It is a holistic reflection of situations, objects and events thatarise from their direct influence on the receptor surface. Through perception, direct-sensory orientation in the surrounding world is provided. To a lesser or greater extent, such cognitive processes as memory and thinking are associated with it. Consider them in more detail.
Thinking is a mediated and generalized reflection of reality. In humans, it has several types that "flow" into various cognitive styles.
Visually-effective thinking is able to function by processing the information that the subject receives by performing certain actions. It is most common in children under three years of age.
Visual-figurative thinking is aimed at recreating a "cast" of reality. It develops in a child between the ages of three and ten in the game.
Abstract thinking is able to establish logical connections between the phenomena of reality.
Memory includes the process of forming and preserving experience from the past, which makes it possible to reuse it in activities. Such cognitive processes connect the past with the future and the present for the subject. Therefore, it is memory that is the most important cognitive function that underlies learning and development.
Imagination is a mental process that is expressed in:
- building the image and result of human activity;
- shaping a program of communication and behavior in thatsituations where the problem is uncertain;
- creating an image that does not program, but replaces activity;
- building an object that matches the description.
The most important function of the imagination is that it will allow you to present the final result of your activity before it begins. Thanks to this, the orientation of a person in the process of its implementation occurs.
Therefore, cognitive processes, working in a complex, are a necessary component of cognitive activity.
