First Article

Topic: What are Cognitive Abilities and Skills?

Authors name: Dr. Pascale Michelon.
Date: 18 December, 2006.
Link: http://sharpbrains.com/blog/2006/12/18/what-are-cognitive-abilities/
Text:
First of all, what is cognition? Cognition has to do with how a person understands and acts in the world. It is a set of abilities, skills or processes that are part
of nearly every human action.
Cognitive abilities are brain-based skills we need to carry out any task from
the simplest to the most complex. They have more to do with the mechanisms of
how we learn, remember, problem-solve, and pay attention rather than with any
actual knowledge. For instance, answering the telephone involves at least: perception (hearing the ring tone), decision taking (answering or not), motor skill (lifting
the receiver), language skills (talking and understanding language), social skills
(interpreting tone of voice and interacting properly with another human being).
Mental functions or cognitive abilities are based on specific neuronal networks or brain structures. For instance memory skills rely mainly on parts of the
temporal lobes and parts of the frontal lobes (behind the forehead).
In the table below, you can browse through the main brain functions
involved in cognition.
COGNITIVE ABILITIES ARE BRAINS FUNCTIONS
Cognitive Ability
Brain Function

Perception

Skills involved

Recognition and interpretation of sensory stimuli

(smell, touch, hearing, etc.)

Attention

Ability to sustain concentration on a particular object, action, or

thought.

Ability to manage competing demands in our environment.

Memory
Motor
Language
Visual and
Spatial Processing

Executive Functions

Short-term/ working memory (limited storage).

Long-term memory (unlimited storage).
Ability to mobilize our muscles and bodies.
Ability to manipulate objects.
Skills allowing us to translate sounds into words and generate verbal output.
Ability to process incoming visual stimuli. Ability to understand
spatial relationship between objects. Ability to visualize images and
scenarios.
Abilities that enable goal-oriented behavior, such as the ability to
plan, and execute a goal. These include:
Flexibility: the capacity for quickly switching to the appropriate
mental mode.
Theory of mind: insight into other peoples inner world, their
plans, their likes and dislikes.
Anticipation: prediction based on pattern recognition.
Problem-solving: defining the problem in the right way to then
generate solutions and pick the right one.
Decision making: the ability to make decisions based on problemsolving, on incomplete information and on emotions (ours and others).
Working Memory: the capacity to hold and manipulate information on-line in real time.
Emotional self-regulation: the ability to identify and manage ones
own emotions for good performance.
Sequencing: the ability to break down complex actions into manageable units and prioritize them in the right order.
Inhibition: the ability to withstand distraction, and internal urges.

.
COGNITIVE ABILITIES CAN IMPROVE IF EXERCISED
With age, some cognitive abilities decline, especially the executive functions. In addition, cognitive abilities that are not used regularly tend to diminish
over time. This may happen at any age but is mostly observed in older age. Fortunately, these skills can also be improved at any age with regular practice.

Summary
1. Who is the author of the article? Is it from the reliable resource?
Information in the article is from reliable resource and can be used for the
project. Because the author of the article, Dr. Pascale Michelon, has a Ph.D. in
Cognitive Psychology and has worked as a Research Scientist at Washington
University in Saint Louis, in the Psychology Department.
2. What about is this article? What are the main points of this article?
The article is about what the cognition is and what are the cognitive abilities
and skills. Cognition is a set of abilities, which are part of the humans actions and
these abilities are learning, remembering, problem-solving, and paying attention.
There is a table in the article, which shows the main brain functions and
involved skills for each function. There are 7 mentioned cognitive abilities:
perception, attention, memory, motor, language, visual processing and executive
functions.
3. Was this article useful for you? What is the connection of the article
with my project?
This article was useful for the project, because there are 2 noted facts for the
project, first is that some cognitive skills, which are not used regularly tend to
decline by the time. And the second fact is that these cognitive skills can also be
improved by practicing and with exercise. This claim says that brain trainers can
improve the cognitive skills of human.