What are mental or cognitive processes?

Cognitive processes refer to a number of tasks the brain does continuously. They are
procedures in charge of processing all the information we receive from the
environment. Imagine you are sitting on your sofa while watching a movie. Even though the
movie is interesting, you start smelling something burning. What do you do? Fortunately,
your brain will center all of its attention in the possible danger you are facing.

Suddenly, you remember that you had a pizza in the oven. You will run to the kitchen as fast
as you can and coordinate a series of motor movements to take it out of the oven. Then you
will decide whether to eat the less burnt parts or go back to the living room. Cognitive
processes have guided this whole scenario and actions.

Types of cognitive processes

1. Sensation and perception

Sensations are caused by different stimuli in our environment. The stimuli first reach our
senses and allow us to filter information from the outside world. Once we receive this
information, perception takes over and we start interpreting these stimuli.

We are continuously using our perception without even noticing it. We are conscious of other
people’s movements, messages we receive on our phone, food flavors, our posture, etc. Our
past experiences also play a part in the interpretation of different stimuli.

Gestalt psychologists were the main researchers in perception.

“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”- Gestalt

They believed that we are active human beings that process reality as a whole comprised of
different parts. They also explained how different types of perception can happen including
illusions.

2. Attention

Life has many stimuli happening at the same time, however, we are capable of centering our
attention on the stimuli that interest us. Some actions such as walking and chewing require
little attention. Nonetheless, other activities such as speaking and body language require
focus, especially when we are giving a lecture.
Attention is the cognitive process that makes it possible to position ourselves towards
relevant stimuli and consequently respond to it. There are different types of attention
including

 Arousal

 Focused attention

 Sustained attention

 Selective attention

 Alternating attention

 Divided attention.

Fortunately, we managed to automate certain processes that we have to repeat several times a
day, making it easier to focus on other tasks. For example, at first learning to drive and focus
on all the things one must do is difficult but after a while, it is done naturally and without
thinking.

3. Memory

What is the capital of France? Who was your best friend in primary school? How do you play
the guitar? Our memory has the answers to these questions and much more. It allows us to
encode the data we receive from the environment, consolidate and retrieve it later.

We have different types of memory;

 Sensory memory

 Short-term memory

 working memory

 semantic memory
All these types of memories interact together but they don’t all depend on the same
brain areas. An example of this is people with amnesia still remember how to walk but
can’t remember their partner’s name.

Higher cognitive processes

1. Intelligence

According to Gardner’s multiple bits of intelligence, there is not only one intelligence but
several different bits of intelligence. He established that

 intrapersonal intelligence

 linguistic intelligence

 logical-mathematical intelligence

 musical intelligence

are examples of higher cognitive processes. Recently, emotional intelligence has caught
people’s attention, it is the ability to manage the difficulties we face daily.

2. Thought

The complexity and heterogeneity of our thoughts are fascinating. This higher mental process
is responsible for tasks related to

 problem-solving

 reasoning

 decision-making

 creative thinking

 divergent thinking

Sometimes we try to be logical and often ignore how irrational we can be. We take shortcuts
to process information faster not taking into account the details that might be important. This
can lead to cognitive biases, which are deviations from the normal process of reasoning. For
example, we sometimes believe that we are able to figure out what is going to happen in a
game of chance.

On occasions, cognitive biases can lead to cognitive distortions which are extremely negative
and irrational thoughts, for example, “the world hates me”. It’s always important to
remember we are able to stop these thoughts and work on them. If these thoughts overpower
you, it’s crucial you speak to someone.

3. Language

We are capable of producing and comprehending different sounds and words, combine
different letters and phrases and expressing with precision what we want to communicate,
even in different languages. We even use our body language to communicate.

Language development is produced all throughout our lifetime. The communicative skills of
each person vary significantly and can be improved by practice. Some language disorders
especially make it difficult to communicate for different reasons, although it is also possible
to help people with these problems.

Cognitive processes involved in language are fundamental in learning how to effectively

communicate.