Editorial - Journal of Psychology and Cognition (2021) Volume 6, Issue 4

Editorial note on Consciousness and Cognition

Department of Pharmacy, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

*Corresponding Author:

Sowmya Vennam
Veterinary Research Division
Department of Pharmacy
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University
Hyderabad, Telangana, India
E-mail: Sowmya.vennam@gmail.com

Accepted on May 07, 2021

Editorial

Definition of Consciousness

Your individual knowledge of your unique emotions, experiences, perceptions, stimuli, and surroundings is referred to as consciousness. Consciousness is described as your knowledge of yourself and the world around you. This sense of self-awareness is personal and special to you.

Types of consciousness

Changes or shifts in consciousness may be caused by a variety of factors. Some of them arise spontaneously, and others are caused by factors like medications or brain injury. Perception, thought, comprehension, and interpretations of the universe will all shift as a result of shifts in consciousness.

Among the various states of consciousness are:

• Dreams and hallucinations are two types of hallucinations.

• Sleep states caused by psychoactive medications include hypnosis, meditation, and meditative states.

There are two normal states of awareness: consciousness and unconsciousness. Altered levels of consciousness can also occur, which may be caused by medical or mental conditions that impair or change awareness.

Altered types of consciousness include:

• Coma

• Confusion

• Delirium

• Disorientation

• Lethargy

• Stupor

Doctors and healthcare professionals may use different assessments to measure and assess levels of consciousness. Scores on these assessments may be used to guide diagnosis and treatment decisions.

Uses

Understanding the various states of awareness will aid healthcare providers in spotting warning signals that someone is having a problem.

Changes of consciousness may be a symptom of a variety of medical problems or even an impending medical emergency.

Cognition

Cognition is the collection of states and mechanisms that go into understanding something, and it includes interpretation and judgement. Both cognitive and unconscious mechanisms by which intelligence is accumulated, such as perceiving, remembering, conceiving, and thinking, are considered part of cognition.

Cognitive skills: The 8 core cognitive capacities

• Sustained Attention

• Response Inhibition

• Speed of Information Processing

• Cognitive Flexibility and Control

• Multiple Simultaneous Attention

• Working Memory

• Category Formation

• Pattern Recognition

Five elements of cognition reasoning:

• Perception. Perception or perceiving refers to the information we get from our five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste)

• Reasoning and problem solving

• Learning

• Memory

• Language

As a cognitive method learning

Learning is the mental method of assimilating new ideas into our existing experience. Training encompasses a wide range of activities and routines, such as brushing our teeth or learning to walk, as well as skills acquired by socialisation. Cognitive learning, according to Piaget and other scholars, is the mechanism of knowledge entering and modifying our cognitive system.

Cognitive processes may occur spontaneously or artificially, knowingly or unintentionally, but they almost always occur quickly. These neural functions run in the background, unnoticed by us. When we are walking down the street and see a stoplight turn red, for example, we begin the logical loop that instructs us to make a decision (cross or don't cross). The first thing we do is centre our attention on the stoplight, which is red as far as our eyes, can see. We remember from memory in milliseconds that crossing the street when the stoplight is red is not a good idea. This is most likely when we make our first decision: wait for the signal to turn green, or check right and left (shifting our eyes again) to see if any vehicles are approaching and decide to cross quickly.