Cognitive development and cognition

Explanation about Assimiliation, Accomodation, Equilibration.

1. COGNITION and COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT NAME: CHAMA AGARWAL ROLL NO 21 SESSION 2020-22

2. MEANING OF COGNITION Cognition comes from the latin word ‘ Congnoscere ’ meaning getting to know or knowledge. Cognition is the mental process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and senses. It encompasses processes such as knowledge , attention, memory, and working memory, judgement and evaluation, reasoning and computation, problem solving and decision making , comprehension and production of language, etc.

3. Definition of cognition Free Dictionary “Cognition is the mental process of knowing , including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning and judgement that which comes to be known , as through perception, reasoning or intuition knowledge.” Webster Dictionary “Cognition is the act of knowing, knowledge and perception”. Neisser C ognition is "those processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used."

4. Types of cognitive processes

5. There are many different types of cognitive processes. These include: Attention : Attention is a cognitive process that allows people to focus on a specific stimulus in the environment. Language: Language and language development are cognitive processes that involve the ability to understand and express thoughts through spoken and written words. It allows us to communicate with others and plays an important role in thought. Learning :  Learning  requires cognitive processes involved in taking in new things, synthesizing information, and integrating it with prior knowledge.

6. Memory: Memory  is an important cognitive process that allows people to encode, store, and retrieve information. It is a critical component in the learning process and allows people to retain knowledge about the world and their personal histories. Perception :  Perception  is a cognitive process that allows people to take in information through their senses (sensation) and then utilize this information to respond and interact with the world. Thought:   Thought is an essential part of every cognitive process. It allows people to engage in decision-making, problem-solving, and higher reasoning .

7. Cognitive development Cognitive Development is the field of study in neuroscience and psychology focuses minutely on the child’s development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning and other aspects of brain development. Cognitive development is the emergence of the ability to think and understand. Cognitive development is how a person perceives, thinks, and gains understanding of their world through the relations of genetic and learning factors. There are four stages to cognitive development. They are, reasoning, intelligence, language, and memory.

8. Process of cognitive development Jean Piaget was a Swiss biologist . He developed a keen interest in child and cognitive psychology. He opposed Binet’s idea of defining intelligence . He defined intelligence as the ability to adjust, adapt or deal efficiently with, one’s environment. Piaget designed a proper framework to understand the structure, functioning and development of cognitive development of human mind. He postulated that there are two aspects of human mind. One is referred to as Cognitive structure and the other is known as cognitive functioning.

9. Cognitive structures Unlike other creatures the human baby is born with a few practical instincts and reflexes such as sucking, looking, grasping and reaching. Therefore, the initial cognitive structures of infants are supposed to incorporate only those cognitive abilities or potential which help them to do such acts such as look, reach out or grasp. Piaget named these abilities or potentialities as Schemas. A schema represents a unit of one’s cognitive structure in the shape of general potential to perform a particular class of behaviors. The various schemas with their content thus form the basic structure of the human mind. The earlier schemas are inherited , however as the child grows due to the interaction with environment he is able o form different schemas.

10. Cognitive functioning On the other hand individual has to adapt to his environment for the survival as well as proper growth and development. The key to his cognitive development lies in his interaction with and adaptation to his physical and social environment. The task of such adaptation is carried out through the processes of assimilation and accommodation. ADAPTATION

11. Assimilation: Assimilation refers to a kind of matching between existing cognitive structures and the environmental needs as they arise. For example : where a six month old infant is given a new toy it is likely to respond by putting the toy in its mouth. This is Assimilation, as what the child did was to assimilate, incorporate or fit ideas about the new toy into already existing cognitive structures about old toys. His cognitive structure about the old toy revolved around the sucking schemas, therefore he at once responded by performing the act of sucking.

12. Accommodation Now in case , the new toy is too big to be picked up and placed in the mouth, it will certainly need a change or modification in the already existing cognitive structure. The child will have to change his old ways of thinking and behaving in order to adapt or adjust to the new situation. Consequently , now instead of sucking , the child may respond by pushing or grasping the toy. This is called Accommodation as one tries to accommodate or adjust to new ways of thinking and behaving in place of assimilating or behaving in the same old fashion.

13. Whereas in the process of assimilation , one ‘s responses are supposed to bank upon one’s past experience and already complied stock of information, in the process of accommodation one has to learn new ways of thinking and behaving by making changes or modifications in one’s existing cognitive structure .

14. Equilibration The process of assimilation or accommodation helps the organism to adjust or maintain a harmonious relationship between himself and his environment. This adjustments mechanism was called equilibration by Piaget. It can be defined as an innate tendency or continuous drive on the part of an organism to organise its experiences for obtaining optimal adaptation to the changing demands of its environment by maintaining a proper balance between its cognitive structures and the changing demands of its environment.

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