cognition

Language: en

🇺🇸 /kɑˈgnɪʃən/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.; A result of a cognitive process; a perception, idea, or piece of knowledge acquired through mental activity.; In philosophy, the faculty or process of knowing, as distinguished from emotion and volition.

🔗 Details

Word forms

countable / uncountable Plural: cognitions

Collocations

human cognitionsocial cognitionspatial cognitionhigher cognitioncognition and emotioncognitive dissonance

Derivatives

cognitivecognitivelycognizantcognizancemetacognitionprecognitionrecognitioncognateincognito

Synonyms

perceptionunderstandingcomprehensionawarenessintellectionthought

Commonly confused

recognition
EN: 'Recognition' is the act of identifying something previously known; 'cognition' is the broader mental process of acquiring knowledge.
cognizance
EN: 'Cognizance' refers to awareness or notice of something (often legal); 'cognition' refers to the mental process of knowing itself.
cognitive
EN: 'Cognitive' is the adjective form; 'cognition' is the noun referring to the process or faculty.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember the silent 'g' in the 'gn' cluster: cog-ni-tion. Do not confuse with 'recognition' which adds the prefix 're-'.

💬 Examples

  1. The study examined how sleep deprivation affects cognition and decision-making.

  2. His cognition of the situation was far more nuanced than anyone else's.

  3. Kant explored the limits of human cognition in his Critique of Pure Reason.