IELTS Reading: Ocean & Marine Life

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. Cognitive processes are typically categorized by their function. Perception organizes and interprets sensory information, such as light and sound, to construct a coherent experience of objects and events. Attention prioritizes specific aspects while filtering out irrelevant information. Memory is the ability to retain, store, and retrieve information, including working memory and long-term memory. Thinking encompasses psychological activities in which concepts, ideas, and mental representations are considered and manipulated. It includes reasoning, concept formation, problem-solving, and decision-making. Many cognitive activities deal with language, including language acquisition, comprehension, and production. Metacognitive processes deal with information about other mental processes, such as knowing that one can recall a specific memory. Classifications also distinguish between conscious and unconscious processes and between controlled and automatic ones. 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 participle cognitus, 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.

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.