Importance Of Higher Cognitive Functions
The learning process is about absorbing and remembering information. Understanding, applying and reflecting on what has been learned is also important. In this article, we will look at the higher cognitive function skills required throughout the learning process.
A person begins to learn immediately after birth by using language and communicating with other people as well as their environment. Learning takes place in a social and cultural context. Each individual embraces knowledge through study, practice, and experience.
What is learning?
As we mentioned earlier, learning is the acquisition of knowledge. This means not only remembering things, but also understanding and valuing what we have learned. For this to happen, other cognitive operations are necessary.
These cognitive operations allow a person to assimilate knowledge of concepts, patterns of action, and values. This information is used to form new functional and mental representations so that they can be applied in different contexts and circumstances.
Learning is a skill that allows a person to develop new skills and learn and adopt new ways. It also helps to form and shape attitudes and behaviors. In short, learning develops the necessary skills to enable motor abilities and intelligence to adapt to our environment.
Skills of higher cognitive functions
In the process of learning, more complex abilities and skills are known, known as higher cognitive functions.
In his book Complex Thought and Education, Matthew Lipman talks about higher quality thinking that develops higher psychological functions. The author of the book refers to reasoning, which is in many ways similar to the reasoning used in a criminal investigation. Reasoning like this constantly questions things.
According to Lipman, the development of higher cognitive functions is very important. According to Lipman, higher cognitive functions include:
Higher cognitive functions
- Analysis. Ability to divide and separate the whole into smaller parts, and to know the principles and elements of these.
- Synthetic thinking. Combining the smaller parts and the information they contain into a whole.
- Conceptualization. Ability to define the necessary features to be able to describe situations, phenomena and problems.
- Information processing. Ability to visualize sub-elements and the whole they form. These are further subdivided into rules, principles and measures, all related to each other.
- Critical thinking. An individual’s ability to think independently and to analyze and evaluate the consistency of what they hear, see and perceive.
- Negotiation. Ability to present an accurate hypothesis on a research topic. Gathering data and information to prove a hypothesis by simultaneously forming laws and theories.
- Metacognition. Ability to reflect on one’s own thoughts.
Importance of higher cognitive functions
Higher cognitive functions are thus driven by the development and processing of higher intellectual skills. Higher levels of thinking are actually only possible in adulthood. However, it is important to develop the abilities that support it from an early age and can be promoted both at home and at school, as in other areas of education.
In short, a higher cognitive functions are important for the formation of complex thought processes related to both information content and action. These are important because they allow for rational and reflective thinking that is simultaneously critical, innovative, and creative.
