Essay - Nature of Cognition Ever Since Simon and Binet Developed the...

Nature of Cognition

***** since Simon and Binet developed the first intelligence test in 1905, the field of psychology has ma*****tained a strong interest in ***** nature ***** intelligence. How do we think? Why are some people better problem solvers than others? What is cognition, the ability to think about our environment? ***** are some people cons*****tently more able ***** use ********** brains to think, ***** remember, and to problem-solve than others?

The first IQ tests *****re devised to determine which children were mentally retarded. These children were pulled away from mainstream education. However, the ***** did an effective job of predicting school success for all students, ***** their use was broadened (Sternberg, 1999). Multiple tests were developed to measure cognition, which might be defined as the ability to think abstractly. Markman (2001) described it in this way:

Cognition depends on the ***** to imagine or represent objects and events that ***** not physic*****y present at a given moment. Cognitive functions include *****tention, perception, *****ing, judging, decision-making, problem solving, mem*****y, and linguistic ability.

One of the most basic cognitive functions is the ability ***** conceptualize, or group individual items together as instances of a single concept or c*****tegory, such as 'apple' or 'chair.'"

***** ability to reason about things ***** aren't in our immediate vic*****ity, ***** which are abstract *****s, allow us ***** think beyond the concrete limitations of our environment. ***** lists some of *****se kinds of abstract ********** as "deductive reasoning, induction, mental simulation, and analogy" (Markman, 2001). Much research has been done on the nature ***** what cogniti***** is, and on why some ***** ***** c*****sistently much stronger or ***** weaker in their ability to think, remember and reason (often *****d as an IQ sc*****e). This paper will look at ***** cognition might be, *****d what some of the causes are for the condition known as "mental retardation, where ***** individual has markedly diminished ability ***** use cognitive skills to both learn and to retrieve information when compared to most people. However, Sternberg (1999) makes the important point that since we are just beginning to explore how the brain is, any ***** ***** have ***** so far are by necessity incomplete measures of the wide variety of *****s in which ***** can "th*****k."

Complicating the exploration of cognition is the fact that the ***** ********** multiple functions ***** process information. For instance, memory is more than one thing. Immediate short-term ***** (*****times called "active working memory") allows us to examine things while they are present, such as a ph***** number. We may need to ***** it only long enough to dial it, and immediately forget it. Or we may deliberately commit it to memory, or it may end up there simply because it h***** ***** repeated ***** to be permanently st*****ed for recall. The ***** to recall information is crucial to our abil*****y ***** compare new information to old, to categorize, and to develop new *****, and even ***** have a sense of self.

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