human cognition
How minds work
Human cognition is the mental processes by which humans acquire knowledge, understand the world, and navigate experience—perception, memory, reasoning, judgment, language, problem-solving.
The term appears in scientific and philosophical contexts: Researchers study human cognition to understand decision-making, AI attempts to model human cognition.
It encompasses both conscious thought and unconscious mental operations.
- short-term memoryFleeting cognitive storage
- sensationPerceived stimulus or phenomenon
- deductive reasoningDeriving specifics from generalities
- classical conditioningLearned stimulus-response association
- selective attentionFiltering relevant from irrelevant
visual processing · risk assessment · semantics · heuristics · mental shortcut · theory of mind · syntax · blind spot · creative problem-solving · big picture · train of thought · inner voice · critical thinking · pragmatics · morphology · divided attention · phonology · cost-benefit analysis
human cognitionartificial intelligence
Machines mimicking human thought
machine intelligence · animal cognition · machine learning · hive mind · animal instinct
human cognitioninstinct
Innate behavioral tendency
animal instinct · reflex · primal instinct · automatic response · fixed action pattern
human, cognition, humans, humane, humanly, humanity, humanities, humanize, humanized