Psychological research on cognition focuses not just on thinking, but also on <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/attention">attention </a>, the creation and storage of memories, knowledge acquisition and retention, language learning, and logical reasoning. As people gain new experiences, their cognition can change in subtle but powerful ways.

Can't Spell Cognition Without The Cog

One prominent area of research, for example, was popularized by noted psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky and focuses on the distinction between “fast” and “slow” thinking. Fast thinking is intuitive, automatic, and nearly impossible to switch off, relying on heuristic processes to come to a “good enough” decision. By contrast, slow thinking takes a great deal of time and energy analyzing all available data before reaching a conclusion.

Thinking Fast And Slow

Learning occurs via a number of pathways, such as association—if two stimuli are repeatedly paired together, a person or animal will learn that they go together and shift their behavior or expectations accordingly. Learning also happens via socialization.

So, How Do We Learn? 

Evaluating one’s thinking style or problem-solving processes may help someone identify cognitive biases that are interfering with their decision-making. <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-moment-youth/202010/what-is-metacognition-how-does-it-help-us-think">Metacognition </a>may also help them identify areas where their knowledge or comprehension is lacking.

How does metacognition help us think more effectively?

Some evidence suggests that articulating one’s thoughts out loud can improve <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/attention">concentration </a>in certain high-pressure situations, such as during a <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/sport-and-competition">competition </a>.

Can thinking aloud help improve concentration?

Other areas of interest include cognitive biases, such as humans’ tendency to engage in stereotyping and self-serving biases (believing that one is above average on many traits). Isolate and understand biases. Common examples of cognitive biases include <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/motivated-reasoning">confirmation bias </a>, or the tendency to search for information that supports what one already believes, and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/heuristics">anchoring bias </a>, in which someone gives undue weight to the first piece of information they receive, even if it’s incorrect or incomplete.

Cognitive Biases 

Cognition refers, quite simply, to thinking. There are the obvious applications of conscious reasoning—doing taxes, playing chess, deconstructing Macbeth—but thought takes many subtler forms, such as interpreting sensory input, guiding physical actions, and empathizing with others.

Cognition | Psychology Today

Morgan McGlothlin