Cognition
What is it?
Cognition refers to a range of mental processes relating to the acquisition, storage, manipulation, and retrieval of information and understanding through thought, experience, and our senses.
Where is it?
Cognition has a physical basis in the brain with over 100 billion nerve cells in a healthy human brain. Each of these can have up to 10,000 connections with other nerve cells – an incredibly complicated organ (Cambridge).
What it does?
Cognitive function enables to learn, make decisions, and perform daily activities across the life span.
Cognitive function
Cognitive function refers to a broad set of mental abilities and processes involved in acquiring knowledge, understanding, reasoning, problem-solving, remembering, and making decisions.
These functions allow us to process information, learn new things, focus attention, and manage day-to-day tasks.
Cognitive Impairment
Cognitive impairment can be caused by brain injury, stroke, dementia, mental health issues, developmental or neurological conditions and varies significantly for each person.
Impact
Impacting independence, safety, and social participation.
- Daily Living: Forgetting steps in a recipe; needing reminders to take medication.
- Community: Getting lost on the way to a familiar shop or failing to read schedules for public transport.
- Social: Withdrawing from group activities due to trouble following group discussions.
- Work/Study: Struggling to keep up with workload or deadlines.
Cognitive Services
