Psych Basics

Cognition
Social Cognition, Embodied Cognition, Language, Sensory Perception, Thinking

Quite simply, cognition refers to thinking. There are the obvious applications of conscious reasoning—doing taxes, playing chess, deconstructing Macbeth—but thought takes many subtler forms, such as interpreting sensory input, guiding physical actions, and empathizing with others. The old metaphor for human cognition was the computer—a logical information-processing machine. (You can’t spell cognition without “cog.”) But our thoughts are as mushy as our brains, and rationality works in tandem with emotions, hunches, and unconscious nudges. Squishy is smart.



eye perception

Sensory Perception

Making Sense of Your World

How perceptions pave the path to wellness.

What You See is What You Hear

Are you a synesthete?

The Hidden Force of Fragrance

Boost your health and mood with scents.

Have Scientists Finally Discovered Evidence for Psychic Phenomena?

New studies show people can anticipate future events.

How Environment and Mood Affect the Passage of Time

How environment and mood affect the passage of time

PT Puzzle: Tricky Fingers

Touch and go

See Also

dancer

Embodied Cognition

What You Touch Changes How You Think

The dangers of soft chairs

Mind Your Body: Taking a Stand

Good posture sets the stage for a good mood.

I move...therefore I am

Your body "thinks" just as much as your mind.

Bending the Mind With the Body

Sometimes your body knows what's up before you do.

Show Me What You're Thinking

People gesture to help themselves think.

Intelligence and Creativity

The secret of creativity: An oblique perspective

Why immigrants and gays are so creative

IQ to the Test

Eleven facts about intelligence that will astound the experts.

The Art of Creativity

When the creative spirit stirs.

The Magic of (Pre)School

Why are the earliest years of education so important for later development?

Everyday Creativity

How to start living creatively and reap the benefits.

Can the octopus help us understand intelligence?

Probing the distributed mind of an octopus.

See Also

memory rememember string finger

Learning and Memory

Your Most Vivid Memory? Maybe It Never Happened

Why We Can't Trust Even Our Clearest Recollections

The Seven Sins of Memory

Memory can mess with your head.

Explicit and Implicit Memory: Intuition training basics

Explicit and Implicit Memory: Inuiition-training basics.

Music-Evoked Nostalgia

Why do certain songs send us back?

Mind Your Body: Watered-Down Thinking

An unchecked immune system may have cognitive costs.

How Can We Learn if We Can't Remember?

Memory strategies help brain injury survivors gain hope, knowledge, & skills.

See Also

Language and Communication

From basic writing to higher-level thinking

For 100 Years Webster’s Blue-Backed Speller Taught Americans to Read.

On the Job: Word Wonk

Dictionary editor Erin McKean hunts for words.

Of Two Minds

The benefits of bilingualism.

Double Talk

Speakers of more than one language have nimble brains.

See Also

Reasoning and Decision Making

Deadly Mind Traps

Simple cognitive errors can have disastrous consequences.

Rational Rationality

Why crises are inevitable.

Using your mind (and brain) to make healthier choices

Put on your thinking cap when you make food choices

The "Piece of Cake Heuristic"

Jargony names convey importance

10 Ways We Get the Odds Wrong

Weighing risk rationally.

When to Choose Is to Lose

How to avoid the decision blues.

See Also

Attention

Attention and the hemispheres

How attention changes the world

Mastering Your Own Mind

Become a high-performance user of your own brain.

Expertise: Creatures of Habit

Know-how gets you in—and out—of ruts.

See Also

introduction handshake

Social Cognition

Selfish Genes, Social Brains

The gene is obligatorily selfish, humans are caring social animals.

Mind Reading

We're all street-corner psychics.

Love's Loopy Logic

Men and women deceive themselves about one another in myriad ways and, as it turns out, that's in our keenest interest.

Can friendly social talk improve cognitive functions?

Friendly social talk improves cognitive functions

Top 10 Secrets of Effective Liars

Top 10 Secrets of Effective Liars

Why It's Impossible to Measure Beauty, Happiness, and Wealth

Beauty, happiness and wealth are impossible to measure objectively.

Evolutionary Paradise Lost? Don’t Adam and Eve It!

Cognitively our past was no paradise

See Also

Find a Therapist
Find a nearby professional for face-to-face help

Cognition Blogs

  • Jeff Thompson

    Beyond Words

    The science and fun of nonverbal communication
    By Jeff Thompson
  • Sian Beilock, Ph.D.

    Choke

    What the secrets of the brain reveal about getting it right when you have to.
    By Sian Beilock, Ph.D.
  • Lawrence T. White, Ph.D.

    Culture Conscious

    How culture shapes thought
    By Lawrence T. White, Ph.D., and Steven B. Jackson
  • Mack R. Hicks, PhD

    Digital Pandemic

    Hidden Cyber Age Dangers
    By Mack R. Hicks, PhD

  • Everybody Is Stupid Except You

    The truth about learning and memory.
    By Nate Kornell Ph.D.
  • Tania Lombrozo, Ph.D.

    Explananda

    Human curiosity and its consequences
    By Tania Lombrozo, Ph.D.
  • Earl Hunt Ph.D.

    Exploring Intelligence

    Cognition in people, machines, and the future
    By Earl Hunt, Ph.D.
  • Francois Grosjean, Ph.D.

    Life as a Bilingual

    The reality of living with two (or more) languages.
    By Francois Grosjean, Ph.D.

Cognition Tests

Attention

Can't concentrate? Learn how to focus your attention.

Multi-dimensional IQ

Are you a logical thinker? Find out your IQ.

Creative Problem-Solving

Don't get stuck in a rut.

Memory Test

Is your brain a sponge or a sieve?

More Tests

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