While factories and refineries provide jobs and wages, they are also an example of a market failure, as they impose negative externalities on the surrounding region via their airborne pollutants.
The neoclassical school attributes market failures to the interference of self-regulatory organizations, governments or supra-national institutions in a particular market, although this view is criticized by heterodox economists. Economists, especially microeconomists, are often concerned with the causes of market failure and possible means of correction. Such analysis plays an important role in many types of public policy decisions and studies.
However, government policy interventions, such as taxes, subsidies, wage and price controls, and regulations, may also lead to an inefficient allocation of resources, sometimes called government failure. Most mainstream economists believe that there are circumstances (like building codes, fire safety regulations or endangered species laws) in which it is possible for government or other organizations to improve the inefficient market outcome. Several heterodox schools of thought disagree with this as a matter of ideology.
An ecological market failure exists when human activity in a market economy is exhausting critical non-renewable resources, disrupting fragile ecosystems, or overloading biospheric waste absorption capacities. In none of these cases does the criterion of Pareto efficiency obtain.
Categories
Different economists have different views about what events are the
sources of market failure. Mainstream economic analysis widely accepts
that there are several causes of market failures. These include if the market is "monopolised" or a small group of businesses hold significant market power resulting in a "failure of competition"; if production of the good or service results in an externality (external costs or benefits); if the good or service is a "public good"; if there is a "failure of information" or information asymmetry; if there is unequal bargaining power; if there is bounded rationality or irrationality; and if there are macro-economic failures such as unemployment or inflation.
In small countries like New Zealand, electricity transmission is a natural monopoly. Due to enormous fixed costs and small market size, one seller can serve the entire market at the downward-sloping section of its average cost curve, meaning that it will have lower average costs than any potential entrant.
It is then a further question about what circumstances allow a
monopoly to arise. In some cases, monopolies can maintain themselves
where there are "barriers to entry"
that prevent other companies from effectively entering and competing in
an industry or market. Or there could exist significant first-mover advantages
in the market that make it difficult for other firms to compete.
Moreover, monopoly can be a result of geographical conditions created by
huge distances or isolated locations. This leads to a situation where
there are only few communities scattered across a vast territory with
only one supplier. Australia is an example that meets this description. A natural monopoly
is a firm whose per-unit cost decreases as it increases output; in this
situation it is most efficient (from a cost perspective) to have only a
single producer of a good. Natural monopolies display so-called
increasing returns to scale. It means that at all possible outputs marginal cost needs to be below average cost
if average cost is declining. One of the reasons is the existence of
fixed costs, which must be paid without considering the amount of
output, what results in a state where costs are evenly divided over more
units leading to the reduction of cost per unit.
Public goods
Some markets can fail due to the nature of the goods being exchanged. For instance, some goods can display the attributes of public goods or common goods, wherein sellers are unable to exclude
non-buyers from using a product, as in the development of inventions
that may spread freely once revealed, such as developing a new method of
harvesting. This can cause underinvestment because developers cannot
capture enough of the benefits from success to make the development
effort worthwhile. This can also lead to resource depletion in the case of common-pool resources, whereby the use of the resource is rival but non-excludable,
there is no incentive for users to conserve the resource. An example of
this is a lake with a natural supply of fish: if people catch the fish
faster than the fish can reproduce, then the fish population will
dwindle until there are no fish left for future generations.
Externalities
A good or service could also have significant externalities, where gains or losses associated with the product, production or consumption of a product, differ from the private cost.
These gains or losses are imposed on a third-party that did not take
part in the original market transaction. These externalities can be
innate to the methods of production or other conditions important to the
market.
"The Problem of Social Cost" illuminates a different path towards social optimum showing the Pigouvian tax
is not the only way towards solving externalities. It is hard to say
who discovered externalities first since many classical economists saw
the importance of education or a lighthouse, but it was Alfred Marshall
who wanted to explore this more. He wondered why long-run supply curve
under perfect competition could be decreasing so he founded "external
economies".
Externalities can be positive or negative depending on how a
good/service is produced or what the good/service provides to the
public. Positive externalities tend to be goods like vaccines, schools,
or advancement of technology. They usually provide the public with a
positive gain. Negative externalities would be like noise or air
pollution. Coase shows this with his example of the case Sturges v. Bridgman
involving a confectioner and doctor. The confectioner had lived there
many years and soon the doctor several years into residency decides to
build a consulting room; it is right by the confectioner's kitchen which
releases vibrations from his grinding of pestle and mortar. The doctor wins the case by a claim of nuisance so the confectioner
would have to cease from using his machine. Coase argues there could
have been bargains instead the confectioner could have paid the doctor
to continue the source of income from using the machine hopefully it is
more than what the Doctor is losing. Vice versa the doctor could have paid the confectioner to cease
production since he is prohibiting a source of income from the
confectioner. Coase used a few more examples similar in scope dealing
with social cost of an externality and the possible resolutions.
Traffic congestion
is an example of market failure that incorporates both
non-excludability and externality. Public roads are common resources
that are available for the entire population's use (non-excludable), and
act as a complement
to cars (the more roads there are, the more useful cars become).
Because there is very low cost but high benefit to individual drivers in
using the roads, the roads become congested, decreasing their
usefulness to society. Furthermore, driving can impose hidden costs on society through pollution (externality). Solutions for this include public transportation, congestion pricing, tolls, and other ways of making the driver include the social cost in the decision to drive.
Perhaps the best example of the inefficiency associated with
common/public goods and externalities is the environmental harm caused
by pollution and overexploitation of natural resources.
Coase theorem
The Coase theorem, developed by Ronald Coase
and labeled as such by George Stigler, states that private transactions
are efficient as long as property rights exist, only a small number of
parties are involved, and transactions costs are low. Additionally, this
efficiency will take place regardless of who owns the property rights.
This theory comes from a section of Coase's Nobel prize-winning work The Problem of Social Cost.
While the assumptions of low transactions costs and a small number of
parties involved may not always be applicable in real-world markets,
Coase's work changed the long-held belief that the owner of property rights was a major determining factor in whether or not a market would fail. The Coase theorem points out when one would expect the market to function properly even when there are externalities.
A market is an institution in which individuals or firms exchange not just commodities, but the rights to use them in particular ways for particular amounts of time. [...] Markets are institutions which organize the exchange of control of commodities, where the nature of the control is defined by the property rights attached to the commodities.
As a result, agents' control over the uses of their goods and
services can be imperfect, because the system of rights which defines
that control is incomplete. Typically, this falls into two generalized
rights – excludability and transferability. Excludability
deals with the ability of agents to control who uses their commodity,
and for how long – and the related costs associated with doing so.
Transferability reflects the right of agents to transfer the rights of
use from one agent to another, for instance by selling or leasing
a commodity, and the costs associated with doing so. If a given system
of rights does not fully guarantee these at minimal (or no) cost, then
the resulting distribution can be inefficient. Considerations such as these form an important part of the work of institutional economics. Nonetheless, views still differ on whether something displaying these
attributes is meaningful without the information provided by the market
price system.
Information failures
Information asymmetry is considered a leading type of market failure. This is where there is an imbalance of information between two or more parties to a transaction. One example is incomplete markets,
for example where second hand car buyers know there is a risk a car may
break down, and systematically under-pay to discount this risk: this
leads to fewer cars being sold overall; or where insurers know that some
policyholders will withhold information, and systematically refuse to
insure certain groups because of this risk. This may result in economic
inefficiency, but also have a possibility of improving efficiency
through market, legal, and regulatory remedies. From contract theory, decisions in transactions where one party has more or better information
than the other is considered "asymmetry". This creates an imbalance of
power in transactions which can sometimes cause the transactions to go
awry. Examples of this problem are adverse selection and moral hazard. Most commonly, information asymmetries are studied in the context of principal–agent problems. George Akerlof, Michael Spence, and Joseph E. Stiglitz developed the idea and shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics.
In The Wealth of NationsAdam Smith
explored how an employer had the ability to "hold out" longer in a
dispute over pay with workers because workers were more likely to go
hungry more quickly, given that the employer has more property, and have
fewer obstacles in organising. Unequal bargaining power has been used as a concept justifying economic
regulation, particularly for employment, consumer, and tenancy rights
since the early 20th century. Thomas Piketty in Capital in the Twenty-First Century
explains how unequal bargaining power undermines "conditions of "pure
and perfect" competition" and leads to a persistently lower share of
income for labor, and leads to growing inequality. While it was argued by Ronald Coase
that bargaining power merely affects distribution of income, but not
productive efficiency, the modern behavioural evidence establishes that
distribution or fairness of exchange does affect motivation to work, and therefore unequal bargaining power is a market failure. Notably, the price of labour was excluded from the scope of the original charts on supply and demand by their inventor, Fleeming Jenkin,
who considered that the wages of labour could not be equated with
ordinary markets for commodities such as corn, because of labour's
unequal bargaining power.
In Models of Man, Herbert A. Simon points out that most people are only partly rational, and are emotional/irrational
in the remaining part of their actions. In another work, he states
"boundedly rational agents experience limits in formulating and solving
complex problems and in processing (receiving, storing, retrieving,
transmitting) information" (Williamson,
p. 553, citing Simon). Simon describes a number of dimensions along
which "classical" models of rationality can be made somewhat more
realistic, while sticking within the vein of fairly rigorous
formalization. These include:
limiting what sorts of utility functions there might be.
recognizing the costs of gathering and processing information.
the possibility of having a "vector" or "multi-valued" utility function.
Simon suggests that economic agents employ the use of heuristics
to make decisions rather than a strict rigid rule of optimization. They
do this because of the complexity of the situation, and their inability
to process and compute the expected utility of every alternative
action. Deliberation costs might be high and there are often other,
concurrent economic activities also requiring decisions.
The concept of bounded rationality was significantly expanded
through behavioral economics research, suggesting that people are
systematically irrational in day-to-day decisions. Daniel Kahneman in Thinking, Fast and Slow
explored how human beings operate as if they have two systems of
thinking: a fast "system 1" mode of thought for snap, everyday decisions
which applies rules of thumb but is frequently mistaken; and a slow
"system 2" mode of thought that is careful and deliberative, but not as
often used in making ordinary decisions to buy and sell or do business.
"Unemployment, inflation and "disequilibrium" are considered a
category of market failure at a "macro economic" or "whole economy"
level. These symptoms (of high job loss, or fast rising prices or both) can
result from a financial crash, a recession or depression, and the market
failure is evident in the sustained underproduction of an economy, or a
tendency not to recover immediately. Macroeconomic business cycles
are a part of the market. They are characterized by constant downswings
and upswings which influence economic activity. Therefore, this
situation requires some kind of government intervention.
Labour shortages occur broadly across multiple industries within a
rapidly expanding economy, whilst labour shortages often occur within
specific industries (which generally offer low salaries) even during
economic periods of high unemployment. In response to domestic labour
shortages, business associations such as chambers of commerce, trade associations or employers' organizations would generally lobby to governments for an increase of the inward immigration of foreign workers from countries which are less developed and have lower salaries. In addition, business associations have campaigned for greater state provision of child care, which would enable more women to re-enter the labour workforce at a lower wage rate to achieve economic equilibrium.
However, as labour shortages in the relevant low-wage industries are
often widespread globally throughout many countries in the world,
immigration would only partially address the chronic labour shortages in
the relevant low-wage industries in developed countries
(whilst simultaneously discouraging local labour from entering the
relevant industries) and in turn cause greater labour shortages in
developing countries.
Interpretations and policy examples
The above causes represent the mainstream view of what market failures mean and of their importance in the economy. This analysis follows the lead of the neoclassical school, and relies on the notion of Pareto efficiency, which can be in the "public interest", as well as in interests of stakeholders with equity. This form of analysis has also been adopted by the Keynesian or new Keynesian schools in modern macroeconomics, applying it to Walrasian models of general equilibrium in order to deal with failures to attain full employment, or the non-adjustment of prices and wages.
Policies to prevent market failure are already commonly
implemented in the economy. For example, to prevent information
asymmetry, members of the New York Stock Exchange agree to abide by its
rules in order to promote a fair and orderly market in the trading of
listed securities. The members of the NYSE
presumably believe that each member is individually better off if every
member adheres to its rules – even if they have to forego money-making
opportunities that would violate those rules.
A simple example of policies to address market power is
government antitrust policies. As an additional example of
externalities, municipal governments enforce building codes and license
tradesmen to mitigate the incentive to use cheaper (but more dangerous)
construction practices, ensuring that the total cost of new
construction includes the (otherwise external) cost of preventing
future tragedies. The voters who elect municipal officials presumably
feel that they are individually better off if everyone complies with the
local codes, even if those codes may increase the cost of construction
in their communities.
CITES
is an international treaty to protect the world's common interest in
preserving endangered species – a classic "public good" – against the
private interests of poachers, developers and other market participants
who might otherwise reap monetary benefits without bearing the known and
unknown costs that extinction could create. Even without knowing the
true cost of extinction, the signatory countries believe that the
societal costs far outweigh the possible private gains that they have
agreed to forego.
Some remedies for market failure can resemble other market
failures. For example, the issue of systematic underinvestment in
research is addressed by the patent system that creates artificial monopolies for successful inventions.
Economists such as Milton Friedman from the Chicago school and others from the Public Choice school, argue that market failure does not necessarily imply that the government
should attempt to solve market failures, because the costs of government failure
might be worse than those of the market failure it attempts to fix.
This failure of government is seen as the result of the inherent
problems of democracy and other forms of government perceived by this
school and also of the power of special-interest groups (rent seekers) both in the private sector and in the government bureaucracy. Conditions that many would regard as negative are often seen as an effect of subversion of the free market by coercive
government intervention. Beyond philosophical objections, a further
issue is the practical difficulty that any single decision maker may
face in trying to understand (and perhaps predict) the numerous
interactions that occur between producers and consumers in any market.
Austrian
Some advocates of laissez-fairecapitalism, including many economists of the Austrian School, argue that there is no such phenomenon as "market failure". Israel Kirzner
states that, "Efficiency for a social system means the efficiency with
which it permits its individual members to achieve their individual
goals." Inefficiency only arises when means are chosen by individuals that are inconsistent with their desired goals. This definition of efficiency differs from that of Pareto efficiency,
and forms the basis of the theoretical argument against the existence
of market failures. However, providing that the conditions of the first welfare theorem
are met, these two definitions agree, and give identical results.
Austrians argue that the market tends to eliminate its inefficiencies
through the process of entrepreneurship driven by the profit motive; something the government has great difficulty detecting, or correcting.
Marxian
Objections also exist on more fundamental bases, such as Marxian analysis.
Colloquial uses of the term "market failure" reflect the notion of a
market "failing" to provide some desired attribute different from
efficiency – for instance, high levels of inequality can be considered a
"market failure", yet are not Pareto inefficient, and so would not be considered a market failure by mainstream
economics. In addition, many Marxian
economists would argue that the system of private property rights is a
fundamental problem in itself, and that resources should be allocated in
another way entirely. This is different from concepts of "market
failure" which focuses on specific situations – typically seen as
"abnormal" – where markets have inefficient outcomes. Marxists, in
contrast, would say that markets have inefficient and democratically
unwanted outcomes – viewing market failure as an inherent feature of any
capitalist economy – and typically omit it from discussion, preferring
to ration finite goods not exclusively through a price mechanism, but
based upon need as determined by society expressed through the
community.
Ecological
Humanity's economic system viewed as a subsystem of the global environment
In ecological economics, the concept of externalities is considered a misnomer, since market agents are viewed as making their incomes and profits by systematically 'shifting' the social and ecological costs of their activities onto other agents, including future generations. Hence, externalities is a modus operandi of the market, not a failure: The market cannot exist without constantly 'failing'.
The fair and even allocation of non-renewable resources over time
is a market failure issue of concern to ecological economics. This
issue is also known as 'intergenerational fairness'. It is argued that
the market mechanism
fails when it comes to allocating the Earth's finite mineral stock
fairly and evenly among present and future generations, as future
generations are not, and cannot be, present on today's market. In effect, today's market prices do not, and cannot, reflect the preferences of the yet unborn. This is an instance of a market failure passed unrecognized by most mainstream economists, as the concept of Pareto efficiency is entirely static (timeless).
Imposing government restrictions on the general level of activity in
the economy may be the only way of bringing about a more fair and even
intergenerational allocation of the mineral stock. Hence, Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and Herman Daly,
the two leading theorists in the field, have both called for the
imposition of such restrictions: Georgescu-Roegen has proposed a minimal
bioeconomic program, and Daly has proposed a comprehensive steady-state economy. However, Georgescu-Roegen, Daly, and other economists in the field agree that on a finite Earth, geologic limits will inevitably strain most fairness in the longer run, regardless of any present government restrictions: Any
rate of extraction and use of the finite stock of non-renewable mineral
resources will diminish the remaining stock left over for future
generations to use.
Another ecological market failure is presented by the
overutilisation of an otherwise renewable resource at a point in time,
or within a short period of time. Such overutilisation usually occurs
when the resource in question has poorly defined (or non-existing) property rights
attached to it while too many market agents engage in activity
simultaneously for the resource to be able to sustain it all. Examples
range from over-fishing of fisheries and over-grazing of pastures to
over-crowding of recreational areas in congested cities. This type of
ecological market failure is generally known as the 'tragedy of the commons'. In this type of market failure, the principle of Pareto efficiency is violated the utmost, as all
agents in the market are left worse off, while nobody are benefitting.
It has been argued that the best way to remedy a 'tragedy of the
commons'-type of ecological market failure is to establish enforceable
property rights politically – only, this may be easier said than done.
The issue of climate change presents an overwhelming example of a 'tragedy of the commons'-type of ecological market failure: The Earth's atmosphere
may be regarded as a 'global common' exhibiting poorly defined
(non-existing) property rights, and the waste absorption capacity of the
atmosphere with regard to carbon dioxide is presently being heavily
overloaded by a large volume of emissions from the world economy. Historically, the fossil fuel dependence of the Industrial Revolution
has unintentionally thrown mankind out of ecological equilibrium with
the rest of the Earth's biosphere (including the atmosphere), and the
market has failed to correct the situation ever since. Quite the opposite: The unrestricted market has been exacerbating this global state of ecological dis-equilibrium, and is expected to continue doing so well into the foreseeable future.
This particular market failure may be remedied to some extent at the
political level by the establishment of an international (or regional) cap and trade property rights system, where carbon dioxide emission permits are bought and sold among market agents.
The term 'uneconomic growth'
describes a pervasive ecological market failure: The ecological costs
of further economic growth in a so-called 'full-world economy' like the
present world economy may exceed the immediate social benefits derived
from this growth.
Zerbe and McCurdy
Zerbe and McCurdy connected criticism of market failure paradigm to
transaction costs. Market failure paradigm is defined as follows:
"A fundamental problem with the concept of market failure, as
economists occasionally recognize, is that it describes a situation that
exists everywhere."
Transaction costs are part of each market exchange, although the
price of transaction costs is not usually determined. They occur
everywhere and are unpriced. Consequently, market failures and
externalities can arise in the economy every time transaction costs
arise. There is no place for government intervention. Instead,
government should focus on the elimination of both transaction costs and
costs of provision.
Emotion can have a powerful effect on humans and animals. Numerous studies have shown that the most vivid autobiographical memories
tend to be of emotional events, which are likely to be recalled more
often and with more clarity and detail than neutral events.
The activity of emotionally enhanced memory retention can be
linked to human evolution; during early development, responsive behavior
to environmental events would have progressed as a process of trial and
error. Survival depended on behavioral patterns that were repeated or
reinforced through life and death situations. Through evolution, this
process of learning became genetically embedded in humans and all animal
species in what is known as flight or fight instinct.
Artificially inducing this instinct through traumatic
physical or emotional stimuli essentially creates the same
physiological condition that heightens memory retention by exciting
neuro-chemical activity affecting areas of the brain responsible for
encoding and recalling memory. This memory-enhancing effect of emotion has been demonstrated in many
laboratory studies, using stimuli ranging from words to pictures to
narrated slide shows, as well as autobiographical memory studies. However, as described below, emotion does not always enhance memory.
Arousal and valence in memory
One of the most common frameworks in the emotions field proposes that affective experiences are best characterized by two main dimensions: arousal and valence.
The dimension of valence ranges from highly positive to highly
negative, whereas the dimension of arousal ranges from calming or
soothing to exciting or agitating.
The majority of studies to date have focused on the arousal
dimension of emotion as the critical factor contributing to the
emotional enhancement effect on memory. Different explanations have been offered for this effect, according to
the different stages of memory formation and reconstruction. Memory has
been shown to be better with arousal linked with emotion than without
emotion. The use of a PET
scan has allowed scientists to see that pictures with an
"emotional-stimulus" have significantly larger amount of activity in the
amygdala. In a study using fluoro-2-deoxyglucose
(FDG-PET) to examine the brain during recall of films that were both
neutral and aversive, there was a positive correlation between the brain
glucose and metabolic rate in the amygdala. The activity in the amygdala is part of the episodic memory that was being created due to the adverse stimuli. Most recently, an intracranial EEG study found that the amygdala triggered more pronounced hippocampal sharp-wave ripples after the encoding of more arousing experiences, which are believed to play a critical role in memory consolidation.
However, a growing body of research is dedicated to the emotional
valence dimension and its effects on memory. It has been claimed that
this is an essential step towards a more complete understanding of
emotion effects on memory. The studies that did investigate this dimension have found that
emotional valence alone can enhance memory; that is, nonarousing items
with positive or negative valence can be better remembered than neutral
items.
Emotion and encoding
From an information processing perspective, encoding
refers to the process of interpreting incoming stimuli and combining
the processed information. At the encoding level the following
mechanisms have been suggested as mediators of emotion effects on memory:
Selectivity of attention
Easterbrook's (1959) cue utilization theory predicted that high levels of arousal will lead to attention narrowing, defined as a decrease in the range of cues
from the stimulus and its environment to which the organism is
sensitive. According to this hypothesis, attention will be focused
primarily on the arousing details (cues) of the stimulus, so that
information central to the source of the emotional arousal will be
encoded while peripheral details will not.
Accordingly, several studies have demonstrated that the
presentation of emotionally-arousing stimuli (compared to neutral
stimuli) results in enhanced memory for central details (details central
to the appearance or meaning of the emotional stimuli) and impaired
memory for peripheral details.Also consistent with this hypothesis are findings of weapon focus effect, in which witnesses to a crime remember the gun or knife in great detail
but not other details such as the perpetrator's clothing or vehicle. In
laboratory replications
it was found that participants spend a disproportionate amount of time
looking at a weapon in a scene, and this looking time is inversely
related to the likelihood that individuals will subsequently identify
the perpetrator of the crime. Other researchers have suggested arousal may also increase the duration
of attentional focusing on the arousing stimuli, thus delaying the
disengagement of attention from it. Ochsner (2000) summarized the different findings and suggested that by
influencing attention selectivity and dwell time, arousing stimuli are
more distinctively encoded, resulting in more accurate memory of those
stimuli.
While these previous studies focused on how emotion affects
memory for emotionally arousing stimuli, in their arousal-biased
competition theory, Mather and Sutherland (2011) argue that how arousal influences memory for non-emotional stimuli
depends on the priority of those stimuli at the time of the arousal.
Arousal enhances perception and memory of high priority stimuli but
impairs perception and memory of low priority stimuli. Priority can be
determined by bottom-up salience or by top-down goals.
Prioritized processing
Emotional items also appear more likely to be processed when
attention is limited, suggesting a facilitated or prioritized processing
of emotional information. This effect was demonstrated using the attentional blink paradigm in which 2 target items are presented in close temporal proximity within a stream of rapidly presented stimuli.
The typical finding is that participants often miss the second
target item, as if there were a "blink" of attention following the first
target's presentation, reducing the likelihood that the second target
stimulus is attended. However, when the second target stimulus elicits
emotional arousal (a "taboo" word), participants are less likely to miss the target's presentation, which suggests that under conditions of limited attention, arousing items are more likely to be processed than neutral items.
Additional support for the prioritized processing hypothesis was provided by studies investigating the visual extinction
deficit. People suffering from this deficit can perceive a single
stimulus in either side visual field if it is presented alone but are
unaware of the same stimulus in the visual field opposed to the lesional
side, if another stimulus is presented simultaneously on the lesional
side.
Emotion has been found to modulate the magnitude of the visual
extinction deficit, so that items that signal emotional relevance (e.g.,
spiders) are more likely to be processed in the presence of competing
distractors than nonemotional items (e.g., flowers).
Emotion and storage
In addition to its effects during the encoding phase, emotional arousal appears to increase the likelihood of memory consolidation during the retention (storage)
stage of memory (the process of creating a permanent record of the
encoded information). A number of studies show that over time, memories
for neutral stimuli decrease but memories for arousing stimuli remain
the same or improve.
Others have discovered that memory enhancements for emotional
information tend to be greater after longer delays than after relatively
short ones. This delayed effect is consistent with the proposal that
emotionally-arousing memories are more likely to be converted into a
relatively permanent trace, whereas memories for nonarousing events are
more vulnerable to disruption.
A few studies have even found that emotionally arousing stimuli enhance memory only after a delay. The most famous of these was a study by Kleinsmith and Kaplan (1963) that found an advantage for numbers paired with arousing words over
those paired with neutral words only at delayed test, but not at
immediate test. As outlined by Mather (2007), the Kleinsmith and Kaplan effects were most likely due to a methodological confound. However, Sharot and Phelps (2004) found better recognition of arousing words over neutral words at a
delayed test but not at an immediate test, supporting the notion that
there is enhanced memory consolidation for arousing stimuli. According to these theories, different physiological systems, including those involved in the discharge of hormones believed to affect memory consolidation, become active during, and closely following, the occurrence of arousing events.
Another possible explanation for the findings of the emotional
arousal delayed effect is post-event processing regarding the cause of
the arousal. According to the post stimulus elaboration (PSE)
hypothesis, an arousing emotional experience may cause more effort to be invested
in elaboration of the experience, which would subsequently be processed
at a deeper level than a neutral experience. Elaboration refers to the
process of establishing links between newly-encountered information and
previously-stored information.
It has long been known that when individuals process items in an
elaborative fashion, such that meaning is extracted from items and
inter-item associations are formed, memory is enhanced. Thus, if a person gives more thought to central details in an arousing
event, memory for such information is likely to be enhanced. However,
these processes could also disrupt consolidation of memories for
peripheral details. Christianson (1992) suggested that the combined
action of perceptual, attentional, and elaborative processing, triggered
by an emotionally arousing experience, produces memory enhancements of
details related to the emotion laden stimulus, at the cost of less
elaboration and consolidation of memory for the peripheral details.
Emotion and elaboration
The processes involved in this enhancement may be distinct from those
mediating the enhanced memory for arousing items. It has been suggested
that in contrast to the relatively automatic attentional modulation of
memory for arousing information, memory for non-arousing positive or
negative stimuli may benefit instead from conscious encoding strategies, such as elaboration. This elaborative processing can be autobiographical or semantic.
Autobiographical elaboration is known to benefit memory by
creating links between the processed stimuli, and the self, for example,
deciding whether a word would describe the personal self. Memory formed
through autobiographical elaboration is enhanced as compared to items
processed for meaning, but not in relation to the self.
Since words such as "sorrow" or "comfort" may be more likely to be associated with autobiographical experiences or self-introspection
than neutral words such as "shadow", autobiographical elaboration may
explain the memory enhancement of non-arousing positive or negative
items. Studies have shown that dividing attention at encoding decreases
an individual's ability to utilize controlled encoding processes, such
as autobiographical or semantic elaboration.
Thus, findings that participants' memory for negative non-arousing words suffers with divided attention, and that the memory advantage for negative, non-arousing words can be
eliminated when participants encode items while simultaneously
performing a secondary task, has supported the elaborative processing hypothesis as the mechanism
responsible for memory enhancement for negative non-arousing words.
Emotion and retrieval
Retrieval is a process of reconstructing past experiences; this
phenomenon of reconstruction is influenced by a number of different
variables described below.
Trade-off between details
Kensinger argues there are two trade-offs: central/peripheral trade-off of
details and a specific/general trade-off. Emotional memories may include
increased emotional details often with the trade-off of excluding
background information. Research has shown that this trade-off effect
cannot be explained exclusively by overt attention (measured by
eye-tracking directed to emotional items during encoding) (Steinmetz
& Kensinger, 2013).
Contextual effects of emotion on memory
Contextual effects
occur as a result of the degree of similarity between the encoding
context and the retrieval context of an emotional dimension. The main
findings are that the current mood
we are in affects what is attended, encoded and ultimately retrieved,
as reflected in two similar but subtly different effects: the mood
congruence effect and mood-state dependent retrieval. Positive encoding
contexts have been connected to activity in the right fusiform gyrus.
Negative encoding contexts have been correlated to activity in the right
amygdala (Lewis & Critchley, 2003). However, Lewis and Critchley
(2003) claim that it is not clear whether involvement of the emotional
system in encoding memory differs for positive or negative emotions, or
whether moods at recall lead to activity in the corresponding positive
or negative neural networks.
Mood congruence effect
The mood congruence
effect refers to the tendency of individuals to retrieve information
more easily when it has the same emotional content as their current
emotional state. For instance, being in a depressed mood increases the tendency to remember negative events (Drace, 2013).
This effect has been demonstrated for explicit retrieval as well as implicit retrieval.
Mood-state dependent retrieval
Another documented phenomenon is the mood-state dependent retrieval, a type of context-dependent memory.
The retrieval of information is more effective when the emotional state
at the time of retrieval is similar to the emotional state at the time
of encoding.
Thus, the probability of remembering an event can be enhanced by
evoking the emotional state experienced during its initial processing.
These two phenomena, the mood congruity effect,
and mood-state dependent retrieval, are similar to the context effects
which have been traditionally observed in memory research. It may also relate to the phenomena of state-dependent memory in neuropsychopharmacology.
When recalling a memory, if someone is recalling an event by
themselves or within a group of people, the emotions that they remember
may change as well recall of specific details. Individuals recall events
with stronger negative emotions than when a group is recalling the same
event. Collaborative recall, as it can be referred to, causes strong emotions
to fade. Emotional tone changes as well, with a difference of individual
or collaborative recall so much that an individual will keep the tone
of what was previously felt, but the group will have a more neutral
tone. For example, if someone is recalling the negative experience of
taking a difficult exam, then they will talk in a negative tone.
However, when the group is recalling taking the exam, they will most
likely recount it in a positive tone as the negative emotions and tones
fade.
Detail recount is also something that changed based on the emotion state
a person is in when they are remembering an event. If an event is being
collaboratively recalled the specific detail count is higher than if an
individual is doing it. Detail recall is also more accurate when someone is experiencing negative emotion; Xie and Zhang (2016) conducted a study in which participants saw a screen with five colors
on it and when presented with the next screen were asked which color was
missing. Those who were experiencing negative emotions were more
precise than those in the positive and neutral conditions. Aside from
emotional state, mental illness like depression relates to people's
ability to recall specific details. Those who are depressed tend to overgeneralize their memories and are
not able to remember as many specific details of any events as compared
to those without depression.
Thematic vs. sudden appearance of emotional stimuli
A somewhat different contextual effect stemmed from the recently made
distinction between thematical and sudden appearance of an emotionally
arousing event, suggesting that the occurrence of memory impairments
depends on the way the emotional stimuli are induced. Laney et al.
(2003) argued that when arousal is induced thematically (i.e., not through the
sudden appearance of a discrete shocking stimulus such as a weapon but
rather through involvement in an unfolding event plot and empathy with
the victim as his or her plight becomes increasingly apparent), memory
enhancements of details central to the emotional stimulus need not come
at the expense of memory impairment of peripheral details.
Laney et al. (2004) demonstrated this by using an audio narrative to give the presented
slides either neutral or emotional meaning, instead of presenting
shockingly salient visual stimuli. In one of the experiments,
participants in both the neutral and emotional conditions viewed slides
of a date scenario of a woman and man at a dinner date. The couple
engaged in conversation, then, at the end of the evening, embraced. The
event concluded with the man leaving and the woman phoning a friend.
The accompanying audio recording informed participants in the
neutral condition that the date went reasonably well, while participants
in the emotional condition heard that, as the evening wore on, the man
displayed some increasingly unpleasant traits of a type that was
derogatory to women, and the embrace at the end of the evening was
described as an attempt to sexually assault the woman.
As expected, the results revealed that details central to the
event were remembered more accurately when that event was emotional than
when neutral, However, this was not at the expense of memory for
peripheral (in this case, spatially peripheral or plot-irrelevant)
details, which were also remembered more accurately when the event was
emotional. Based on these findings it has been suggested that the dual enhancing
and impairing effects on memory are not an inevitable consequence of
emotional arousal.
Neurobiological mechanisms of emotional memory enhancement
The neural mechanism underlying emotional memory enhancement involves
the interaction between the amygdala and the hippocampus, as well as
several other factors that prioritize the encoding of emotional
experiences. When an emotional experience occurs, the amygdala becomes
highly active, signaling the hippocampus to strengthen the encoding and
consolidation of these memories. This process is facilitated by the
release of stress hormones and neurotransmitters, which modulate
synaptic plasticity and enhance neural connectivity. Multiple mechanisms have been proposed to explain this prioritized
encoding, including the neuromodulatory effects on plasticity and the
dynamic interplay between the amygdala and the hippocampus. Intracranial
EEG studies have shown that the amygdala triggers pronounced
hippocampal sharp-wave ripples after encoding emotional experiences,
further reinforcing the consolidation of these memories during both
awake and sleep. This coordinated activity between the amygdala and hippocampus ensures
that emotionally significant events are prioritized in long-term memory
storage, leveraging both immediate neurochemical changes and enduring
structural adaptations in neural circuits.
Memory of felt emotion
Many researchers use self-report measures of felt emotion as a manipulation check.
This raises an interesting question and a possible methodological
weakness: are people always accurate when they recall how they felt in
the past? Several findings suggest this is not the case. For instance, in a study
of memory for emotions in supporters of former U.S. presidential
candidate Ross Perot, supporters were asked to describe their initial
emotional reactions after Perot's unexpected withdrawal in July 1992 and
again after the presidential election that November.
Between the two assessment periods, the views of many supporters
changed dramatically as Perot re-entered the race in October and
received nearly a fifth of the popular vote. The results showed that
supporters recalled their past emotions as having been more consistent
with their current appraisals of Perot than they actually were.
Another study found that people's memories for how distressed
they felt when they learned of the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed over
time and moreover, were predicted by their current appraisals of the
impact of the attacks (Levine et al., 2004). It appears that memories of
past emotional responses are not always accurate, and can even be
partially reconstructed based on their current appraisal of events.
Studies have shown that as episodic memory becomes less accessible over time, the reliance on semantic memory to remember past emotions increases. In one study Levine et al. (2009) primes of the cultural belief of women being more emotional than men
had a greater effect on responses for older memories compared to new
memories. The long-term recall of emotions was more in line with the
primed opinions, showing that long-term recall of emotions was heavily
influenced by current opinions.
Emotion regulation effects on memory
An interesting issue in the study of the emotion-memory relationship
is whether our emotions are influenced by our behavioral reaction to
them, and whether this reaction—in the form of expression or suppression
of the emotion—might affect what we remember about an event.
Researchers have begun to examine whether concealing feelings influences
our ability to perform common cognitive tasks, such as forming
memories, and found that the emotion regulation
efforts do have cognitive consequences. In the seminal work on negative
affect arousal and white noise, Seidner found support for the existence
of a negative affect arousal mechanism through observations regarding
the devaluation of speakers from other ethnic origins."
In a study of Richards and Gross (1999) and Tiwari (2013), participants viewed slides of injured men that produced increases in
negative emotions, while information concerning each man was presented
orally with his slide. The participants were assigned to either an
expressive suppression group (where they were asked to refrain from
showing emotion while watching the slides) or to a control group (where
they were not given regulatory instructions at all). As predicted by the
researchers, suppressors showed significantly worse performance on a
memory test for the orally presented information.
In another study, it was investigated whether expressive suppression (i.e., keeping one's emotions subdued) comes with a cognitive price. They measured expressive suppression when it spontaneously occurred
while watching a movie of surgeries. After the movie, memory was tested
and was found to be worse with a higher usage of suppression. In a
second study, another movie was shown of people arguing. Memory of the
conversation was then measured. When gauging the magnitude of cognitive
cost, expressive suppression was compared with self-distraction, which
was described as simply not trying to think about something. It was
concluded that experimentally-induced suppression was associated with
worse memory.
There is evidence that emotion enhances memory but is more specific towards arousal and valence factors. To test this theory, arousal and valence were assessed for over 2,820
words. Both negative and positive stimuli were remembered higher than
neutral stimuli. Arousal also did not predict recognition memory. In
this study, the importance of stimulus controls and experimental designs
in research memory was highlighted. Arousal-related activities when
affiliated with heightened heart rate (HR) stimulate prediction of
memory enhancement. It was hypothesized that tonic elevations in HR (meaning revitalization
in HR) and phasic HR (meaning quick reaction) declaration to help the
memory. Fifty-three men's heart rates were measured while looking at
unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant pictures and their memory tested two
days later. It was concluded that tonic elevations created more accurate
memory recall.
Several related studies have reached similar results. It was
demonstrated that the effects of expressive suppression on memory
generalize to emotionally positive experiences and to socially relevant contexts.
One possible answer to the question "why does emotion suppression impair memory?" might lay in the self monitoring efforts invested in order to suppress emotion (thinking about the behavior one is trying to control). A recent study found heightened self- monitoring efforts among suppressors relative to control participants.
That is, suppressors were more likely to report thinking about
their behavior and the need to control it during a conversation.
Increases in self-monitoring predicted decreases in memory for what was
said, that is, people who reported thinking a lot about controlling
their behavior had particularly impoverished memories. However,
additional research is needed to confirm whether self-monitoring
actually exerts a causal effect on memory
Emotionally arousing stimuli can lead to retrograde amnesia for preceding events and anterograde amnesia
for subsequent events. This has been demonstrated in lab studies with
lists of words or pictures, in which people show impaired memory for
stimuli appearing before or after arousing stimuli.
Depression and memory
Memory recall tends to be congruent with one's current mood, with
depressed people more likely to recall negative events from the past. In addition, depression is often associated with poor memory in general, as outlined here.
Dementia and emotional memory
Several studies have demonstrated emotional memory enhancement in
Alzheimer's patients suggesting that emotional memory enhancement might
be used in the daily management of Alzheimer's patients. One study found that objects are recalled significantly better in
Alzheimer's patients if they were presented as birthday presents to AD
patients.
Aging and emotional memory
The enhancing effects of emotional arousal on later memory recall
tend to be maintained among older adults and the amygdala shows
relatively less decline than many other brain regions. However, older adults also show somewhat of a shift towards favoring
positive over negative information in memory, leading to a positivity effect.
Emotional memory and sleep
Emotional memory and sleep has been a well-researched association. Emotional memories are consolidated greater during sleep, rather than neutral memories. Studies have investigated high valence and arousing words, in
comparison to neutral words. Sleep enhances the consolidation of the
high valence and arousing words and therefore these are remembered more
post-sleep. This concept has been demonstrated in many studies using a
variety of media such as pictures, film clips, and words.
Memories of 'future relevance' are also consolidated greater
during sleep. In a study by Wilhelm et al., 2011, memories of items that
participants knew were needed for the future (for the testing session)
were remembered more after sleep. Sleep consolidated these memories of future relevance to a greater
extent. Memories that are emotionally significant and relevant for the
future are therefore preferentially consolidated during sleep. This can
translate to mean that memories that are more meaningful or valuable to a
person are consolidated more.
The concept of emotional memory and sleep can be applied to
real-life situations e.g. by developing more effective learning
strategies. One could integrate the memorization of information that
possesses high emotional significance (highly salient) with information
that holds little emotional significance (low salience), prior to a
period of sleep.
Cognition encompasses mental processes that deal with knowledge. It includes psychological activities that acquire, store, retrieve, transform, or apply information. Cognitions are a pervasive part of mental life, helping individuals understand and interact with the world.
There are many theories of the nature of cognition. Classical computationalism posits that cognitive processes manipulate symbols according to formal rules, similar to how computers execute algorithms. Connectionism models the mind as a complex network of nodes
where information flows as they communicate with each other.
Representationalism and anti-representationalism disagree about whether
cognitive processes operate on internal representations of the world.
Many disciplines explore cognition, including psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science. They examine different levels of abstraction and employ distinct methods of inquiry. Some scientists study cognitive development,
investigating how mental abilities grow from infancy through adulthood.
While cognitive research mostly focuses on humans, it also explores how
animals acquire knowledge and how artificial systems can emulate cognitive processes. The study of cognition has its roots in antiquity and has gained particular interdisciplinary prominence since the cognitive revolution starting in the 1950s.
Definition
Cognitions are mental processes that deal with knowledge, involving the acquisition, transformation, storage, retrieval, and use of information. For example, these processes occur when reading an article, as sensory input
about the text is acquired and preexisting linguistic knowledge is
retrieved to interpret the text's meaning. This content is then
transformed as different ideas are linked, resulting in the storage of
information as memories and beliefs are formed.
Cognitions are a pervasive part of mental
life, and many cognitive processes happen simultaneously. They are
essential for understanding and interacting with the world by making
individuals aware of their environment and helping them plan and execute
appropriate responses. Thought is a characteristic form of cognition. It considers ideas, analyzes information, draws inferences, solves problems, and forms beliefs. However, cognition is not limited to abstract reasoning and encompasses diverse psychological processes, including perception, attention, memory, language, and decision-making. It is debated whether or under what conditions feelings, emotions, and other affects qualify as cognitions. Some controversial views associated with cognitivism argue that all mental phenomena are cognitions.
Cognitive activities can happen consciously, like when a person
deliberately analyzes a problem step by step. They can also take place
unconsciously, such as automatic mechanisms responsible for language processing and facial recognition. Many fields of inquiry study cognition, including psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and philosophy. While research focuses primarily on the human mind, cognition is not limited to humans and encompasses animal and artificial forms.
The term cognition originates from the Indo-European root gnō-, meaning 'to know'. This root is present in the Latin term gnōscere, also meaning 'to know', which led to the formation of the verb cognōscere, meaning 'to learn, to understand'. Through its perfect participlecognitus, the Latin verb entered Middle English as cognicioun. The earliest documented use occurred in 1447, eventually evolving into the modern English word cognition.
Types of cognitive processes
Cognitive processes encompass various types, each managing different
information and performing distinct functions within the human mind.
They are sometimes divided into basic processes, like perception and memory, and higher-order processes, like thinking. This distinction rests on the idea that higher-order processes could not occur without basic processes.
Simplified model of cognitive processes associated with perception and memory
Perception is the organization and interpretation of sensory
information about the world. It is a complex mental activity that
involves the interplay of diverse cognitive processes, many of which
occur automatically and unconsciously. It starts with physical stimuli, such as light or sound, which are detected by receptors and transmitted to the brain as electrical signals. These signals are processed in various brain regions to construct a coherent experience of distinct objects and events while situating them in a spatial-temporal framework.
Certain cognitive processes are responsible for detecting basic features in sensory data, such as edges, colors, and pitches, while others process spatial location. Object recognition
is another function that compares this information with stored
representations in search of known patterns, such as recognizing a
familiar landmark or identifying a specific melody. Some cognitive
faculties are specialized for tasks only relevant to particular
perceptual contents, such as face recognition and language processing.
Cognitive processes responsible for perception rely on various heuristics
to simplify problems and reduce cognitive labor. For example, visual
perception often assumes that the size, shape, and color of objects remain constant to ensure a consistent view despite changes in perspective or lighting. Heuristics sometimes lead to inaccurate or illusory perceptions.
Different forms of perception are associated with distinct types of stimuli and receptors. Visual perception—the
detection and interpretation of light—is a primary source of knowledge
about the external environment for humans. Other forms of perception
include hearing, touch, smell, and taste.
Data from these different modalities are integrated by higher-order
cognitive processes to form a unified and coherent experience of the
world. Although sensory data is a central factor of perceptual experience, it
is not the only factor, and various other forms of information influence
the underlying cognitive operations. For instance, memories from
earlier experiences determine which objects are experienced as familiar.
Other factors include the expectations, goals, background knowledge,
and belief system of the individual.
Attention is a central aspect of mental processes that focuses
cognitive resources on certain stimuli or features. It involves the
selection or prioritization of specific aspects while filtering out
irrelevant information. For example, attention is responsible for the cocktail party effect,
in which the brain isolates a single conversation while relegating
surrounding noise to the background. The selection process is crucial
since the total amount of information is typically too vast for the
brain to process all at once. It ensures that the most important
features are prioritized. Attention is not limited to perception but is
also present in other cognitive processes, such as remembering and
thinking.
Memory is the ability to retain, store, and retrieve information. It
includes the capacity to consciously recall past experiences and is
central to many other cognitive activities that rely on stored data to
process information and coordinate behavior. Memory processes have three
stages: an input phase where new information is acquired, a storage
phase preserving the information for future access, and an output phase
retrieving the information and making it available to other cognitive
operations. Different types of memory are distinguished by the function
they perform and the type of information they operate on.
Working memory
stores information temporarily, making it available to other cognitive
processes while allowing manipulation of the stored information. During mental arithmetic, for example, the working memory holds and updates intermediate results while calculations are performed. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with the term short-term memory, which is defined by brief retention without the emphasis on dynamic manipulation. Long-term memory,
by contrast, retains information for long periods, in some cases
indefinitely. During storage, the information is not actively
considered. However, it remains available for retrieval, like when
recalling a childhood memory. Passive exposure to information is usually not sufficient for the
effective formation and retrieval of long-term memories. Relevant
factors include the level and type of engagement with the content: for
example, the attention, emotion, mood, and context in which the
information is processed.
Long-term memory is typically divided into episodic, semantic, and procedural memory based on the type of information involved. Episodic memory deals with information about past personal experiences
and events. New memories are stored as a person undergoes experiences
and can be accessed later, either by accessing factual information about
the events or by mentally reliving them. For example, remembering one's
last holiday trip involves episodic memory. Semantic memory deals with organized knowledge about the world not linked to specific experiences, such as general knowledge about facts and concepts. For instance, the information that water freezes at 0 °C is stored in semantic memory.
Procedural memory handles practical knowledge
of how to do things. It encompasses learned skills that can be
executed, like the ability to ride a bicycle or to type on a keyboard. As a form of know-how, procedural memory is distinct from the capacity
to verbally describe the exact procedure involved in the execution, like
explaining how to maintain balance on a bicycle. For this reason, procedural memory is categorized as non-declarative or implicit memory, which operates automatically and cannot be consciously accessed. Episodic and semantic memory, by contrast, belong to declarative or explicit memory, which encompasses information that can be consciously recalled and described.
The different forms of memory play a central role in learning,
which involves the acquisition of novel information, skills, or habits,
as well as refining existing knowledge and skills. Learning occurs
through experience and enables individuals to adapt to their
environment. It happens either intentionally,
such as through studying or practicing, or unintentionally as an
unconscious side effect of engaging in other tasks. A central aspect of
effective learning is the formation of memory connections, which link
different pieces of information and facilitate their retrieval.
Logical reasoning deals with information in the form of statements by inferring a conclusion from a set of premises.
It proceeds in a rigorous and norm-governed manner to ensure that the
conclusion is rationally convincing and supported by the premises. Logical reasoning encompasses deductive and non-deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning follows strict rules of inference,
providing the strongest support: the conclusion of a deductive
inference cannot be false if all the premises are true. An example is
the syllogism from the premises "all men are mortal" and "Socrates
is a man" to the conclusion "Socrates is mortal". Non-deductive
reasoning aims to make a conclusion rationally convincing but does not
guarantee its truth. For instance, inductive reasoning infers a general law from many individual observations, like concluding that all ravens are black based on observations of numerous black ravens. Abductive reasoning,
another type of non-deductive reasoning, seeks the best explanation of a
phenomenon. For example, a doctor uses abductive reasoning when they
infer that a child has chickenpox as an explanation of the child's skin rash and fever.
Through concept formation, the mind learns to identify common patterns among diverse instances.
Problem-solving is a goal-directed activity that aims to overcome
obstacles and arrive at a pre-defined objective. This happens, for
instance, when determining the best route for an upcoming trip.
Problem-solving starts with comprehending the problem, which typically
involves an understanding of the initial state, the goal state, and the
obstacles or constraints that hinder progress. Some problems are
well-structured and have precise solution paths. For ill-structured
problems, by contrast, it is not possible to determine which exact steps
will be successful. Divergent thinking is an approach to problem-solving that generates many possible solutions. It is usually combined with convergent thinking,
which evaluates the different options and eliminates unfeasible ones.
Thought often relies on heuristics or general rules to find and compare
possible solutions. A common heuristic is to divide a problem into
several simpler subproblems. Another heuristic is to adapt strategies
that were successful for similar problems encountered earlier.
Closely related to problem-solving, decision-making is the cognitive process of choosing between courses of action.
To determine the best alternative, it weighs the different options by
assessing their advantages and disadvantages—for example, by considering
their positive and negative consequences. According to expected utility theory, a decision is rational if it selects the option with the highest expected benefit, which is determined by the probability and the value of each consequence. To assess the probability of an outcome, people use various heuristics, such as the representativeness heuristic (judging by similarity to prototypes), the availability heuristic (privileging easily accessible information), and anchoring (relying on reference points).
Different forms of thinking rely on concepts, which are general
ideas or mental representations to sort objects into classes, like the
concepts animal and table. Concept formation is the
process of acquiring a new concept by learning to identify its instances
and grasping its relation to other concepts. This process helps
individuals organize information and make sense of the world.
Psychologists distinguish between logical and natural concepts. Logical
concepts have precise definitions and rules of application, like the
concept triangle. Natural concepts, by contrast, are based on resemblance but lack exact definitions or clear-cut boundaries, like the concept table.
A language, such as English, Japanese, or American Sign Language,
is a structured communication system based on symbols and rules to
share information and coordinate action. Language plays a central role
in everyday life and influences other cognitive processes, but there are
disagreements about the extent of these influences. The Whorfian hypothesis
and the thesis of linguistic relativity propose pervasive influences,
arguing that language shapes thought patterns and that speakers of
distinct languages think differently. Many cognitive processes are
involved in the acquisition, comprehension, and production of linguistic expressions.
Language acquisition happens naturally in early childhood through
exposure to a linguistic environment. It is a complex process since the
system of spoken language is made up of several layers. At the fundamental level are basic sounds or sound units. They usually do not have linguistic meaning themselves but are combined into words, which refer to diverse things and ideas. Words are combined into sentences by following the rules of grammar.
This system makes it possible to form and comprehend an infinite number
of sentences based on knowledge of a finite number of words and rules.
The exact meaning of sentences usually depends also on the context in which they are used. Although distinct languages can differ significantly in their general
structure, there are some universal cognitive patterns that underlie all
human languages.
Language comprehension is the process of understanding spoken, written, and signed language.
It involves the coordination of various cognitive skills to recognize
words, consult memory to access their meanings, analyze sentence
structures, and use contextual information to interpret their
implications. Additional difficulties come from lexical and structural ambiguities,
in which a word or a sentence can be associated with multiple meanings.
To resolve ambiguities, individuals rely on background knowledge about
the overall topic and the speaker to discern the intended meaning. As a
result, language comprehension depends not only on bottom-up processes,
which start with sensory information, but also on top-down processes,
which integrate general knowledge and expectations. For example,
expectations cause longer processing times if a familiar word occurs in a
context where the audience did not expect it.
While language comprehension seeks to uncover the meaning of
pre-existing linguistic messages, language production involves the
inverse process of generating linguistic expressions to convey thoughts.
Before a statement can be precisely formulated, speakers construct a
general idea of what they wish to express, and a rough sentence pattern
of how to communicate it. Speakers then cognitively search for words
that match the concepts they wish to convey. This activity, known as lexicalization, is divided into two stages: the identification of an abstract idea of the intended meaning, followed by the retrieval of the phonological form needed to pronounce the word. As speakers string together words to generate a sentence, they consider the grammatical category of each word, like the contrast between nouns and adjectives,
to align with the intended overall sentence structure. Additionally,
the context of the conversation and the assumed background knowledge of
the audience influence the selection of words and sentence structures.
Others
Cognitive processes can be conscious or unconscious.
Conscious processes, such as attentively solving a math problem step by
step or recalling a vivid memory, involve active awareness. Unconscious
processes, such as the low-level processes underlying face recognition
and language processing, operate automatically without the individual's
awareness. Phenomenal consciousness involves a qualitative experience of mental phenomena, whereas access consciousness is an awareness of information that is available for use but not actively experienced at the moment. Various theories of the cognitive function of consciousness have been
proposed. One asserts that consciousness integrates diverse forms of
data and makes information widely available to different subsystems.
Other theories argue that consciousness improves social interaction by
fostering self-awareness in social contexts or that consciousness allows for increased flexibility and control, particularly in novel situations.
A related distinction is between controlled and automatic processes.
Controlled processes are actively guided by the individual's
intentions, like when a person deliberately shifts attention from one
object of perception to another. These processes are flexible and
adaptable to new situations but require more cognitive resources.
Automatic processes, by contrast, happen unconsciously, are effortless,
and require fewer cognitive resources. By becoming familiar with a task,
a process that was initially controlled can become automatic, freeing
up resources for other activities. For example, as a novice driver
becomes experienced, they can automatically handle the car and adapt to
road and traffic conditions while gaining the ability to engage in a
conversation at the same time.
Metacognitive processes deal with information about other cognitive processes.
Consciousness is closely related to metacognition,
which encompasses any knowledge or cognitive process that deals with
information about cognition. Some forms of metacognition only manage or
store information about other aspects of cognition, like knowing that one can recall a specific memory.
Others play an active role in monitoring and regulating ongoing
processes, like changing a problem-solving strategy upon realizing that
the previous one was ineffective. Metacognitive skills tend to improve
the performance of other cognitive skills, particularly when dealing
with complex tasks.
Social cognitions
are mental activities through which individuals make sense of social
phenomena. They include diverse types, such as the recognition of faces
and facial expressions, the interpretation of intentions and behavior,
and the evaluation of social cues and dynamics. A central topic in this
field is theory of mind—the
ability to understand others as mental beings with emotions, desires,
and beliefs different from one's own. This ability allows individuals to
think about and respond to the mental states of others. Moral
cognitions are a type of social cognition that make individuals aware
of the moral significance of situations. They occur when people
recognize and appreciate altruistic behavior or disapprove of malicious and harmful actions. Cognitive psychologists also study the relation between cognition and emotion, for example, how emotions influence mental operations like attention and decision-making.
Cognitive processes do not always function as they should, and
can lead to inaccuracies, either because of natural errors associated
with cognitive biases
or as a result of pathological impairments from cognitive disorders.
Cognitive biases are systematic ways in which human thinking deviates
from ideal norms of rationality.
They are common patterns that affect most people, leading to
misinterpretations of reality and suboptimal decisions. Cognitive biases
are often caused by heuristics or mental shortcuts, which the brain
uses to increase speed and reduce cognitive load. For instance, people
typically rely on information that easily comes to mind when assessing a situation while disregarding more relevant information that is harder to retrieve.
Cognitive disorders involve a more pronounced deviation from
typical mental functioning. High-level cognitive abilities usually
require the interaction of many low-level processes. Impairments
affecting a specific subprocess often result in a partial malfunction of
the high-level process while leaving its other functions intact. For example, prosopagnosia
is a perceptual disorder in which individuals struggle to recognize
faces, although their other visual abilities remain unaffected. Similarly, anterograde amnesia
is an impaired ability to form and recall new memories but leaves
long-term memory intact. Disorders can affect a wide range of mental
functions, including thought and language. Some disorders involve a general cognitive decline that is not limited to one specific function. For instance, Alzheimer's disease is associated with a widespread, gradual impairment of memory, reasoning, and language.
Theories
Various theories of the nature of cognition have been proposed. They provide conceptualizations and models to represent cognitive processes, explain empirical data, and predict experimental outcomes. Some theories propose interpretations of the overall cognitive architecture of the mind,
seeking to explain cognition as a whole. Others suggest more limited
models intended only for specific mental activities, such as theories of
visual attention.
Classical computationalism
Computationalism asserts that cognition is a type of computation,
highlighting the similarities between minds and computers. In its
classical form, it argues that the brain represents information through strings of symbols. It treats thought as symbol
manipulation: cognitions operate on strings to create new strings. A
key feature of this model is that cognitive processes follow mechanical
rules that depend on the syntactic structure of symbol strings without
considering what the symbols represent. In this regard, individual
processes work similarly to an electronic calculator that transforms the
string "3 + 7" into the result "10" according to the mechanical rules
of arithmetic without grasping the meaning of these numerals. Theories extend this symbol-based approach with more sophisticated devices of knowledge representation, such as semantic nets, schemata, and frames, to explain how the mind handles complex data involving many entities and relations.
According to classical computationalism, any cognitive activity
is at its fundamental level a formal symbol manipulation, including
perception, reasoning, planning, and language processing. Researchers
using this perspective analyze and distinguish cognitive processes by
examining the types of representations involved and the mechanical rules
followed. The tri-level hypothesis
divides this study into three levels of abstraction. The highest level
analyzes the goal or purpose of a process, identifying the information
it receives, the problem it aims to solve, and the result it produces.
The intermediary level decomposes the process into individual steps,
analyzing how the computation is performed or which algorithm is used. The most concrete level explores how the algorithm is implemented on a material level through neurological systems.
Classical computationalism is closely related to the information-processing approach,
which assumes that most cognitive activities are complex processes
arising from the interaction of several subprocesses. Each process is
characterized by the function it performs, which is connected to the
input information it obtains, how it transforms this information, and
the output it generates. Interaction happens when the output of one
subprocess acts as the input for another. This approach is associated
with serial models in which complex computations are divided into
sequences of calculations where intermediary results are computed and
transmitted until a final output is produced. It typically divides the
mind into a small number of high-level systems responsible for different
tasks, such as perception, memory, and reasoning.
Information-processing models often rely on a hierarchical cognitive
architecture where a central system integrates information from other
units and formulates overall goals.
The language of thought hypothesis is a version of classical computationalism arguing that thought happens through the medium of an internal linguistic system, termed mentalese, similar to natural languages
such as English. According to this view, internal symbols and their
combination into strings are like words and sentences composed according
to the rules of grammar. The language of thought hypothesis suggests
that mental states like beliefs and desires are realized as mentalese
sentences and that cognitive operations manipulate these sentences
according to specific rules to transform or extract information.
Some symbol-based approaches use formal logic as a model of cognition. According to this view, internal representations have the form of statements, similar to declarative sentences. Computational processes are conceptualized as rules of inference, which take one or more sentences as input and produce a new sentence as output. For example, modus ponens is a rule of inference that, when applied to the premises "if it rains, then the ground is wet" and "it rains", yields the conclusion "the ground is wet".
A similar approach interprets cognition as the application of
if–then rules to generate new representations. According to this
outlook, a cognitive system is made up of many rules, each defined by
one or more conditions together with an output procedure. If information
stored in the working memory satisfies all the conditions of a rule
then its output procedure is triggered and transfers a new
representation to the working memory. This change may, in turn, prompt
the execution of another rule, leading to a dynamic sequence of
operations that can solve complex computational tasks. The cognitive
architecture Soar is an example of this approach.
Connectionism analyzes cognition through complex neural networks consisting of several layers of nodes.
Connectionism is another form of computationalism that differs from
classical computationalism in various ways. It agrees that cognitions
are computations but proposes a different cognitive architecture based
on a complex network of nodes.
The nodes are locally linked to each other, and the activity of each
node depends on the inputs it receives from connected nodes. The nodes are organized into layers,
with information flowing in one direction from input to output layers.
The initial input layer of nodes receives information, such as sensory
data, and passes it on to intermediary layers,
where the main computation takes place. At the end of the process is an
output layer, which transmits the result to other systems. The behavior
of each individual node is usually relatively simple: it receives the
input values from the nodes of the previous layer, uses this information
to compute its own activation level, and transmits this value to nodes
in the subsequent layer. Complex computations emerge as numerous nodes
operate in parallel and interact across layers.
Connectionists typically reject the serial and hierarchical
models common in classical computationalism. Instead, they argue that
cognition happens in parallel as countless neurons work simultaneously without a central control system guiding the process. Another difference is that connnectionism focuses on non-symbolic
processes: the activations of individual nodes perform computations
without the use of symbols. Accordingly, connectionism and classical
computationalism are often characterized as competing paradigms that
propose incompatible cognitive architectures. However, they do not
necessarily exclude each other. For example, implementation
connectionism argues that non-symbolic processes can implement symbolic
processes. This view holds that the cognitive system functions as a
neural network at the fundamental level and as a symbol-processor at a
higher level of abstraction. Radical connectionism, by contrast, asserts
that symbol-based approaches are fundamentally flawed and misconstrue
the nature of cognition.
To reduce complexity, cognitive scientists often rely on
idealized models that focus on activation levels and connections between
nodes. These models typically ignore the underlying neurophysiological
mechanisms in the brain. In this regard, there are various parallels
between connectionist models of the mind and the neural networks
employed in the field of artificial intelligence, for example, concerning the application of node networks to solve specific cognitive tasks and the problem of learning algorithms. Computational neuroscience, by contrast, directly integrates neurological data about the electrochemical activity of neurons into theories, which usually results in more complex models.
Representationalism and anti-representationalism
Both classical computationalism and some forms of connectionism accept representationalism, which holds that information is stored in representations
that depict the state of the world. Representations can take various
forms, such as symbols, images, and concepts, as well as non-symbolic
patterns used to model higher-level structures. Representationalists
examine how cognitive systems encode, manipulate, and decode
representations to construct internal models of the environment and predict changes.
Anti-representationalists reject the idea that cognition is about
representing the world through internal models. They assert that intelligence
arises from the interaction between an organism and its environment
rather than from internal processes alone. For example, some approaches
in behaviorism and situated robotics
suggest a more immediate link between perception and action:
environmental stimuli are directly processed and translated into
behavior following stimulus–response
patterns without constructing detailed internal representations. This
outlook suggests that intelligent behavior emerges if an entity has
stimulus–response patterns that match the external situation, even if
the cognitive system responsible for these patterns has no
representations of what the environment is like.
Anti-representationalism is closely related to 4E cognition,
a family of views critical of prioritizing internal representations. 4E
cognition examines the relation between mind, body, and environment
through four approaches: embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive cognition.
Embodied cognition is the idea that cognitive processes are grounded in
bodily experience and cannot be understood in isolation from the
organism's sensorimotor capacities. Embedded cognition asserts that
cognitive effort and efficiency depend on physical and social
environments. Extended cognition claims that the environment not only
influences cognition but forms part of it, meaning that cognitive
processes extend beyond internal neural activity to include external
events. Enactive cognition asserts that cognition arises from the
interaction between organism and environment.
Other theories
The modularity of mind
is an approach that analyzes the cognitive system in terms of
independent mental modules. Each module is an inborn mechanism that
deals only with a specific type of information while being mostly
unaware of the activities of other modules. Mental modules are primarily
used to explain low-level cognitive activities, such as edge detection
in visual perception. The massive modularity hypothesis, by contrast, asserts that the mind
is entirely composed of modules. According to this view, mental modules
are also responsible for high-level cognitive processes by linking and
integrating the outputs of low-level cognitive processes.
Bayesianism uses probability theory
to model cognitive activities such as learning, vision, and motor
control. Its central idea is that representations of the environment
have degrees of uncertainty. It uses probability theory to deal with
this uncertainty and handle incoming information. Bayesianism is sometimes combined with predictive models. According to these, the brain predicts outcomes, checks them against reality, and updates its internal model accordingly.
Dual process theory relies on the distinction between automatic and controlled processes
to analyze cognitive phenomena. It conceptualizes them as two systems
and proposes different models of their interaction. According to the
default-interventionist model, the automatic system generates intuitive
judgments while the controlled system monitors them and intervenes if it
detects problems. The parallel-competitive model, by contrast, suggests
that each system generates its own type of knowledge and that the
outputs of the different systems compete with each other.
Various theories of cognition are discussed in ancient Indian philosophy, often inspired by Vedic
scriptures that were composed roughly between 1500–600 BCE. Many
propose that the mind is divided into different faculties that deal with
specific cognitive processes. For example, manas is often understood as the sensory mind responsible for receiving and interpreting information from the external senses, while buddhi
is typically described as the intellect engaged in judgment, reasoning,
and decision-making. Related debates address the sources of knowledge,
called pramana, such as perception, inference, and testimony. Ancient Chinese thought emphasized the connection between cognition and behavior. These ideas originated prior to the Qin period (i.e., before 221 BCE) and anticipated later theories of enactive cognition.
Jean Piaget divided the cognitive development of children into four stages.
Cognitive development is the progressive growth of mental abilities from infancy through adulthood as individuals acquire and improve cognitive skills
and learn from experience. Some changes occur continuously as gradual
improvements over extended periods. Others involve discontinuous
transitions in the form of abrupt reorganizations resulting in
qualitative changes. They are typically conceptualized as stages through
which the individual passes.
Various theories of the general mechanisms and stages of cognitive development have been proposed. Jean Piaget
(1896–1980) divided the process into four stages, each marked by an
increasing capacity for abstraction and systematic understanding. In the initial sensory-motor stage, from birth to about two years,
children explore sensory impressions and motor capacities, learning that
things continue to exist
when not observed. During the pre-operational stage, up to about age
seven, children begin to understand and use symbols intuitively. In the
following stages of concrete and formal operation, children first apply logical reasoning to concrete physical objects and then, from around age twelve, also to abstract ideas.
In contrast to Piaget's approach, Lev Vygotsky
(1896–1934) argued that social interaction is the primary driver of
cognitive development without clearly demarcated stages. This theory
holds that children learn new skills by engaging in tasks under the
guidance of knowledgeable others. It emphasizes the role of language
acquisition, suggesting that children internalize language and use it in
private speech as a tool for planning, self-regulation, and problem solving. Other approaches examine the role of different types of representation in cognitive development. For example, Annette Karmiloff-Smith (1938–2016) proposed that cognitive development involves a shift from implicit to explicit representations, making knowledge more complex and easier to access. A further theory, proposed by Robert S. Siegler (born 1949), asserts that children use multiple cognitive strategies to solve problems and become more adept at selecting effective strategies as they develop.
Some influences on cognitive development occur before birth, due to factors like nutrition, maternal stress, and harmful substances like alcohol during pregnancy. Developments are most rapid during childhood and affect all major
cognitive faculties, including perception, memory, thinking, and
language. Cognitive changes also happen during adulthood but are less
pronounced. In old age, overall cognition declines, affecting reasoning, comprehension, novel problem solving, and memory.
The nature versus nurture
debate addresses the causes of cognitive development, contrasting the
influences of inborn dispositions with the effects of environment and
experience. Empiricists identify environment and experience as the main factors. This view is inspired by John Locke's idea that the mind of an infant is a blank slate
that initially knows nothing of the world. According to this outlook,
children learn through sense data by associating and generalizing
impressions. Nativists, by contrast, argue that the mind has innate knowledge
of abstract patterns. They suggest that this inborn framework organizes
sensory information and guides learning. Contemporary approaches
integrate ideas from both perspectives, moving beyond a polarizing
opposition between empiricism and nativism.
Animal cognition encompasses the mechanisms by which animals acquire,
process, and use information to guide flexible, goal-directed behavior.
Animals use cognitive abilities for many daily tasks, for example, to
find and recognize food, navigate territory, seek shelter, hunt prey,
avoid predators, interact socially, communicate, learn new habits, and
form long-term memories. Researchers examine cognition across diverse
species, including mammals, birds, fish, and insects. The cognitive abilities of different species are usually tied to the
specific ecological and social challenges they encounter in life. More
general abilities are primarily found in animals with larger brains and
incur higher energetic costs, posing a trade-off between energy
investment and behavioral flexibility.
Researchers examine various areas of animal cognition. To study
the ability to form abstract concepts, they examine whether an animal
can grasp a category through generalization and apply it to cases not
encountered before. For instance, chimpanzees
can learn concepts of different numbers. As a result, they acquire
various number-related abilities, like identifying collections
containing a specific number of items. Another often-studied capacity is
the ability to form and remember a spatial map of the environment. This
enables animals, such as jays, to navigate efficiently and choose the shortest route to a shelter or a feeding site. Research also addresses imitation, in which an animal copies the behavior of another animal. This facilitates the spread of useful skills, including tool use. Beyond animal cognition, some researchers also examine plant cognition
as a form of information processing resulting in adaptive, flexible, or
goal-directed responses to the environment. For example, maple trees use plant communication: they release airborne chemicals to warn nearby trees of a herbivore
attack, helping them prepare defensive responses. The extent of the
cognitive capacities of plants is disputed and researchers are typically
skeptical about the presence of higher functions like consciousness.
Comparative cognition
is the study of the similarities and differences in cognitive abilities
across species. It is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry that also
considers evolutionary factors. For example, researchers investigate
which cognitive traits are required to solve particular socioecological
problems and how these traits evolved in different species. A key topic
in this field is the problem of anthropomorphism
or the tendency to ascribe human cognitive qualities to animals. For
instance, researchers have to decide whether social behavior in
chimpanzees indicates the human-like ability to understand the mental
states of other individuals or can be explained through simpler
mechanisms. These challenges relate closely to anthropocentrism—the tendency to regard human cognition as exceptional and superior to that of other animals.
Artificial
Artificial cognition uses computational systems to emulate and model
cognitive processes, like perception and reasoning, with central
applications in artificial intelligence and robotics. Artificial and human cognition have different strengths and weaknesses.
For example, artificial cognition excels at rapidly processing vast
datasets according to predefined algorithms.
Human cognition, by contrast, is typically better suited to assess
emotional significance and to find and evaluate solutions that require
novel and creative
thinking. These differences affect how the two forms of cognition are
integrated with each other. For some applications, artificial cognition
is used to assist human cognition. In aviation, for example, automated systems monitor flight parameters and analyze environmental conditions, including turbulence
prediction, allowing human pilots to focus on decision-making rather
than data analysis. However, there are also cases where artificial
cognition replaces human cognition, such as autonomous vehicle navigation.
The field of artificial cognitive systems explores the possibility of autonomous machines
with human-like cognition. This encompasses not only artificial
intelligence at the level of individual tasks, such as object detection
or language translation, but also the integration of diverse cognitive
processes. The aim is an embodied system that can autonomously interact
with its environment in real time. An artificial cognitive system can
navigate its surroundings, set goals, devise means to achieve them,
anticipate outcomes, adapt to circumstances, execute action plans, and
learn from experience.[97]Artificial general intelligence,
a closely related concept, refers to hypothetical systems that possess
or surpass the full range of human mental abilities. It is controversial
whether such a system can be fully realized since it would include not
only computational capacities associated with logical reasoning but also
emotion and phenomenal consciousness.
In various fields
Many fields of inquiry study cognition, including psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science.
They examine different aspects of cognition, ranging from high-level
computational processes to low-level neural mechanisms, and employ
distinct methods
to reach their conclusions. There is substantial overlap among these
disciplines, and researchers from one field often rely on conceptual
models or empirical findings from another.
Cognitive psychology examines mental activities responsible for cognitive phenomena and intelligent behavior. It uses the scientific method to study cognitive processes like perception, memory, reasoning, and language. Although mental activities mediate between stimuli and responses, they are not directly observable, which poses a methodological challenge for researchers. It typically forces them to rely on indirect methods for empirical validation,
usually in the form of models or theories that have testable
predictions. For example, if a theory predicts a specific behavior in a
particular situation, then empirical observations can determine if
outcomes align with those predictions.
Cognitive psychologists use diverse methods to gather data for empirical validation. Experimental methods create controlled situations in which certain factors, called independent variables,
can be changed. The main interest is in how these factors influence
individuals in the situation. By measuring the effects, called dependent
variables, researchers aim to identify causal relations between independent and dependent variables. Correlational
methods, by contrast, measure the degree of association between two
variables without proving that one causes the other. Cognitive
psychologists also integrate methods from other disciplines, including neuroimaging techniques and computational simulations. Early cognitive psychologists, such as Wilhelm Wundt, made extensive use of introspection,
in which researchers examine and reflect on their own experiences to
understand mental processes. The choice of method depends on the studied
cognitive process and can differ markedly between areas like perception
and memory.
fMRI is a neuroimaging technique that can measure regional brain activity corresponding to specific cognitive tasks.
Cognitive neuroscience investigates how the nervous system gives rise to cognition. It is particularly interested in the brain, covering both micro-scale studies of individual neurons and synapses as well as the macro-scale analyses of interactions between brain regions.
For example, cognitive neuroscientists study the brain areas
responsible for processes like memory and decision-making, exploring how
they represent and transform information and communicate with each
other on a biological level. They also examine how these processes are
influenced by neurotransmitters—signalling molecules that affect information exchange between neurons.
Cognitive neuroscientists employ neuroimaging techniques to study brain activity, including electroencephalography (EEG), positron emission tomography (PET), and functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI). These techniques visualize neural processes by measuring
phenomena such as electrical or magnetic changes and blood flow across
different brain areas, indicating local activity levels. Researchers
compare the activation patterns associated with specific mental tasks to
learn how regional brain activity correlates with cognitive demands.
Another method examines patients with brain damage to infer the role of a brain area by observing how cognition changes when the area is impaired.
A different approach, common in computational or theoretical neuroscience, is to design computational or mathematical models
of cognitive systems. This approach explores possible explanations of
observed mental phenomena and neural activities by modeling and
simulating underlying brain mechanisms.
Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field informed by
psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, linguistics, and artificial
intelligence. It seeks to integrate the insights of these disciplines
and provide a unified perspective. To this end, it adopts a common
conceptualization of minds as information processors, understanding
cognition as the manipulation of internal representations.
To bridge disciplinary and methodological divides between the
different fields, it identifies distinct levels of analysis
corresponding to different degrees of abstraction. For example,
neuroscientific analysis of the electrochemical activity of brain areas
belongs to a concrete level that deals with the biological mechanisms
performing computations. By contrast, the psychological study of the
roles of and interactions between high-level processes, such as
perception, memory, and reasoning, adopts an abstract perspective.
Cognitive scientists seek to connect experimental findings with
explanations and models to produce testable theories that link the
different levels.
Other fields
Many fields of inquiry have subareas dedicated to cognitive phenomena. For example, cognitive linguistics is a subarea of linguistics that investigates the relation between language and cognition. It studies the cognitive processes responsible for grammar, conceptualization, language comprehension, and language production. Similarly, cognitive anthropology examines the connection between culture
and cognition, conceptualizing culture as a system of knowledge,
beliefs, and values. It analyzes and compares cultural systems from this
perspective to identify distinctive features of particular societies
and the universal patterns shared by all. Cognitive sociology, a related field, explores how sociocultural factors shape cognitive activity. Other fields include cognitive archaeology and cognitive biology.
Education studies examines the nature, purposes, practices, and outcomes of education. It investigates the cognitive development of children and studies how knowledge is transmitted, acquired, and organized. This discipline overlaps with cognitive psychology and cognitive science because of its interest in learning, covering diverse cognitive processes and skills, such as conceptual change, metacognition, mental models, logical reasoning, and problem solving. Cognitive learning theories conceptualize learning in terms of
information processing. They analyze how information is encoded,
retrieved, and transformed, often with the goal of devising educational
practices that optimize learning. For example, cognitive load theory
identifies limitations of working memory as a bottleneck that impedes
learning and proposes educational practices to avoid cognitive overload.
Psychometrics examines how mental attributes can be measured. It includes the discussion of cognitive tests, which are methods designed to assess cognitive abilities. IQ tests
estimate overall cognitive performance by measuring how individuals
perform on tasks involving logical reasoning, verbal comprehension,
spatial thinking, and working memory. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment and the mini–mental state examination are tests to detect cognitive impairment, such as deficits in memory, attention, and language.
Cognitive behavior therapy is a psychotherapy that analyzes psychological problems in terms of cognitive processes. It argues that maladaptive automatic thoughts, cognitive distortions, and unhealthy core beliefs lead to inaccurate interpretations of events, emotional distress, and problematic behavior. For example, if a person has an unconscious core belief that they are fundamentally inadequate,
they may misinterpret a neutral interaction as a rejection. Cognitive
behavior therapists seek to restructure problematic attitudes by helping
clients modify dysfunctional thought patterns and maladaptive behavior.
Many topics in computer science are relevant to cognition, particularly for approaches that understand cognition in terms of computation and information processing. Theories of computation examine the nature of computation and explore which problems can be solved computationally. Computer architecture has parallels with cognitive architecture, providing models of how different components interact to form a functional system. Another overlap concerns the field of knowledge representation, in which computer scientists explore formal data structures that make knowledge accessible to computational processes. Artificial intelligence
is the capacity of certain computer systems to perform tasks requiring
intelligence, such as reasoning and problem-solving. It includes the
field of machine learning, through which computer systems acquire new abilities not explicitly coded by programmers. The field of cognitive robotics integrates insights from these subfields to create intelligent robots.
History
John Locke argued that humans have no inborn knowledge and need to learn everything from experience.
Experimental research into cognitive processes began in the late 19th century with Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) and his student Edward Bradford Titchener (1867–1927). They laid the foundations of scientific psychology by introducing controlled laboratory experiments, such as measuring responses and reaction times to stimuli, combined with a rigorous introspective method. Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909) and Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930) pioneered experimental studies of memory. William James (1842–1910) approached psychological research from a pragmatist perspective, studying everyday experience. In the early 20th century, Max Wertheimer (1880–1943), Kurt Koffka (1886–1941), and Wolfgang Köhler (1887–1967) formulated Gestalt psychology.
In contrast to earlier experimental approaches that analyzed individual
elements, they focused on larger patterns that emerge as the mind
actively organizes information into coherent wholes.[134]Frederic Bartlett
(1886–1969) was also interested in how the mind actively transforms
information, examining how this process introduces systematic errors
into memory.
Difficulties in measuring internal cognitive events led to the rise of behaviorism,
which sought to explain observable conduct through stimulus–response
patterns without reference to unobservable mental states. Initially
developed by John B. Watson (1878–1958), it dominated psychological research in the first half of the 20th century. Challenges in explaining complex human behavior prompted a paradigm shift in the 1950s—the cognitive revolution.
Instead of studying stimulus–response patterns, researchers examined
how the mind receives, stores, and transforms information, placing
cognition at the center of psychological research and resulting in the
emergence of cognitive subfields across disciplines.
These developments across several fields of inquiry led to the formation of cognitive science in the 1970s. David Marr
(1945–1980) helped unify this interdisciplinary field with the
tri-level hypothesis, proposing that the distinct disciplines work on
different levels of abstraction but are fundamentally concerned with the
same phenomena. The advent of neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI and PET revolutionized the neuroscientific study of cognition, enabling the examination of regional, task-specific brain activity. Concurrently, advances in computational power and artificial
intelligence made possible the design of increasingly complex
simulations of cognition and intelligent systems that rival and surpass
human cognition in specific tasks.
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