Key Concepts of Cognitive Functions

Why This Matters

Cognitive functions aren't just abstract psychology terms—they're the fundamental processes your brain uses every second to navigate reality. When you're tested on brain and behavior, you're really being asked to explain how the brain transforms raw sensory data into thoughts, decisions, and actions. Understanding these functions helps you connect neuroanatomy (the "where") to psychology (the "what happens"), which is exactly what exam questions demand.

These concepts show up everywhere: in questions about brain damage and its effects, in scenarios about learning disorders, and in prompts asking you to trace information flow through neural systems. The key insight is that cognitive functions don't operate in isolation—attention gates what enters memory, perception shapes decision-making, and executive functions coordinate everything else. Don't just memorize definitions; know what each function does and how it interacts with others.

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Information Input: How the Brain Receives and Filters Data

Before the brain can think, it must first select and interpret incoming information. These gateway functions determine what raw sensory data actually makes it into conscious processing.

Attention

• Selective focus on relevant stimuli—attention acts as a cognitive filter, determining which of the millions of sensory inputs reach conscious awareness
• Three core types serve different demands: sustained attention (maintaining focus over time), selective attention (filtering distractions), and divided attention (multitasking)
• Bottleneck for all other cognitive functions—without attention, information cannot be encoded into memory or processed for decision-making

Perception

• Active interpretation, not passive reception—the brain constructs meaning from sensory data using top-down processing (expectations and prior knowledge) and bottom-up processing (raw stimulus features)
• Gestalt principles organize visual information into coherent wholes, explaining why we see patterns, faces, and objects rather than disconnected lines
• Perceptual errors reveal brain mechanisms—illusions and agnosias demonstrate that perception is a constructive process, not a direct readout of reality

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Information Storage and Retrieval: Building Knowledge Over Time

Once information passes through attentional filters, the brain must encode, store, and later retrieve it. Memory and learning represent the brain's capacity to be changed by experience.

Memory

• Three-stage model—information moves through encoding (converting input to neural code), storage (maintaining over time), and retrieval (accessing when needed)
• Short-term vs. long-term distinction reflects different neural systems: working memory relies on prefrontal cortex activity, while long-term consolidation requires the hippocampus
• Context-dependent and state-dependent effects show that retrieval improves when conditions match encoding—a testable principle for understanding memory failures

Learning

• Behavioral mechanisms include classical conditioning (associating stimuli), operant conditioning (consequences shape behavior), and observational learning (modeling others)
• Synaptic plasticity is the neural basis—long-term potentiation (LTP) strengthens connections between neurons that fire together
• Motivation and attention modulate effectiveness—learning isn't automatic; it requires active engagement and emotional relevance to stick

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Higher-Order Processing: Making Sense of Information

Raw data and stored knowledge must be actively manipulated to extract meaning and reach conclusions. Reasoning and language represent the brain's capacity for abstract thought.

Reasoning

• Deductive reasoning moves from general principles to specific conclusions (if all mammals are warm-blooded, and dogs are mammals, then dogs are warm-blooded)
• Inductive reasoning builds general rules from specific observations—powerful but prone to error when samples are biased or incomplete
• Logical fallacies and cognitive biases systematically distort reasoning, explaining why intelligent people make predictable errors

Language

• Hierarchical structure—language builds from phonemes (sound units) to morphemes (meaning units) to syntax (grammatical rules) to semantics (meaning)
• Lateralized brain regions support language: Broca's area (production/grammar) and Wernicke's area (comprehension) in the left hemisphere for most people
• Critical periods for acquisition suggest language relies on both innate neural architecture and environmental input during development

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Action Selection: Choosing What to Do

The brain constantly faces choices—what to pay attention to, what action to take, which goal to pursue. Decision-making and problem-solving represent the output side of cognition.

Decision-Making

• Dual-process models distinguish fast, intuitive System 1 thinking from slow, deliberate System 2 analysis—most decisions blend both
• Cognitive biases systematically skew choices: confirmation bias (favoring supporting evidence), anchoring (over-relying on initial information), availability heuristic (judging by ease of recall)
• Emotional input is essential—patients with damage to ventromedial prefrontal cortex show that "pure reason" without emotional weighting leads to poor real-world decisions

Problem-Solving

• Stage model—effective problem-solving moves through problem identification, strategy generation, implementation, and evaluation
• Mental set and functional fixedness represent cognitive obstacles—past success can blind us to novel solutions
• Insight vs. incremental solutions—some problems yield to gradual analysis while others require sudden restructuring (aha moments linked to right hemisphere activity)

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Cognitive Control: Managing the Mind Itself

Executive functions and emotion regulation represent metacognition—the brain's capacity to monitor and control its own operations. These top-down processes coordinate all other cognitive functions.

Executive Functions

• Three core components—working memory (holding information online), cognitive flexibility (switching between tasks or perspectives), and inhibitory control (suppressing inappropriate responses)
• Prefrontal cortex dependence—executive functions develop slowly (not fully mature until mid-20s) and are vulnerable to fatigue, stress, and frontal lobe damage
• Goal-directed behavior relies on these functions—planning, organizing, and sequencing complex actions all require executive coordination

Emotion Regulation

• Cognitive reappraisal (reinterpreting situations) and suppression (inhibiting emotional expression) represent distinct strategies with different neural signatures and outcomes
• Prefrontal-amygdala interactions underlie regulation—the prefrontal cortex modulates amygdala reactivity through top-down control
• Impacts all other cognitive functions—unregulated emotion disrupts attention, biases memory encoding, and impairs decision-making quality

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Quick Reference Table

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Self-Check Questions

1. Which two cognitive functions serve as "gatekeepers" for information entering conscious awareness, and how do their roles differ?

2. A patient with hippocampal damage can hold a conversation but cannot remember it five minutes later. Which aspects of memory are preserved versus impaired, and why?

3. Compare and contrast deductive and inductive reasoning—give an example of each and explain when each might lead to errors.

4. If an FRQ describes someone who can understand speech but produces grammatically broken sentences, which brain region is likely damaged? How does this differ from damage affecting comprehension?

5. Executive functions and emotion regulation both depend on the prefrontal cortex. Explain how damage to this region might affect a person's behavior in a way that illustrates both deficits.