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The Full Brain

Research on the mind and brain protects you from apathy and arrogance.
by Nelson Cowan, Ph.D.
Nelson Cowan is Curators' Professor at the University of Missouri and conducts research on working memory, the small amount of information held in mind. See full bio
November 5, 2009

Disproving Myself

This is my first blog post for Psychology Today and I will jump right in. The already-active bloggers were asked for this month's print issue to describe one psychological finding that they have used to change their own behavior. Read More

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Books by Nelson Cowan, Ph.D.

Image of The Development of Memory in Infancy and Childhood (Studies in Developmental Psychology)
The Development of Memory in Infancy and Childhood (Studies in Developmental Psychology)
Image of Attention and Memory: An Integrated Framework (Oxford Psychology)
Attention and Memory: An Integrated Framework (Oxford Psychology)
Image of Working Memory Capacity (Essays in Cognitive Psychology)
Working Memory Capacity (Essays in Cognitive Psychology)

Cognition Basics

brain cognition

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.

Go to the Cognition Basics page for more on Cognition including:
  • Attention
  • Reasoning and Decision Making
  • Learning and Memory
  • Intelligence and Creativity
  • Social Cognition
  • Embodied Cognition
  • Sensory Perception
  • Language and Communication
Go to Cognition Basics

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