Cognition Flashcards
What is cognition?
Cognition refers to all the processes involved in human thought.
Cognition is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.
What are the six domains of cognitive function?
- Perceptual motor function
- Language
- Learning and memory
- Social cognition
- Complex attention
- Executive function
What three terms are related to cognition?
Perception, memory, and executive function
What is perception?
Perception is the interpretation of the environment and is dependent on the acuity of sensory input?
What is memory?
Memory is the retention and recall of past experiences and learning.
Memory is a SERIES of different neural subsystems, each of which has a unique localization in the brain.
What is declarative memory?
Declarative memory is the ability to consciously learn and recall information.
What is declarative EPISODIC memory?
The ability to recall information about specific events.
What is declarative SEMANTIC memory?
Declarative semantic memory refers to memory of knowledge, words, and facts.
Declarative semantic memory provides for long-term storage of large amounts of information.
What is immediate memory of “attention span”?
Immediate memory, or attention span, refers to the memory of very small amounts of information.
What is working memory?
Working memory allows a small amount of information to be actively maintained and manipulated for a short period of time?
What is the amount of information that working memory can use?
Approximately four chucks or meaningful units.
What is procedural memory?
Procedural memory refers to the retention and retrieval of motor skills.
Procedural memory requires extensive training and provides for long-term storage of a moderate amount of information.
What is executive function?
Executive function is the higher thinking processes that allow for flexibility, adaptability, and goal directedness.
Executive function determines consciousness, supervises voluntary activity, and is future-oriented.
What is the scope of cognition?
It’s a spectrum that can change over time and is expressed on a continuum.
Cognitive impairment, if present, can range from mild to severe.
What is intact cognition?
Intact cognition refers to an individual that exhibits cognitive behaviors that are considered within the normal range for age and culture.
What is impaired cognition?
Impaired cognition refers to cognition below the expected normal range to function.
Impaired cognition signifies an observable or measurable disturbance in one or more of the cognitive processes.
What does impaired cognition result from?
Impaired cognition results from an abnormality within the brain or a factor interfering with normal brain function.
What is basic cognitive functioning?
Basic cognitive function is perception, pattern recognition, and attention.
What is higher order cognitive function?
Higher order cognitive function is characterized by learning, comprehension, insight, problem solving, reasoning, decision making, creativity, and metacognition (thinking about thinking).
What is the brain responsible for?
The brain is responsible for multiple processes, including those that involve purposeful thought and responses and those that are automated and occur w/o purposeful thought (e.g., breathing, heart rate, hormonal control, temperature regulation).
The cerebrum is…
The cerebrum is divided into two hemispheres (right and left) and each hemisphere has four lobes (frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital)
The limbic system supports…
The limbic system supports cognitive processing, a structure that overlaps the cerebrum and diencephalon; the ability to reason, function intellectually, express personality, and purposefully interact with the external environment.
The hippocampus…
plays a key role in committing information to long-term memory.
The cerebral cortex is…
The cerebral cortex is primarily responsible for carrying out such functions, in which highly sophisticated neurons & neurotransmitters deliver information through complex networks
What is the functional difference of infants and children?
Their brain stem and spinal cord are fully developed, but the limbic system & cerebral cortex are in undeveloped states at birth.
What behavior of newborns is controlled by the lower brain?
Crying, feeding, and sucking are newborn behaviors controlled by the lower brain