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