What is Cognitive Science

What is Cognitive Science?  

            According to the interpretation of Julia Lee Ai Cheng, today, cognitive science, refers to “the scientific study of the mind; how we think, perceive, remember and learn “.   Have you ever asked yourself how you think, perceive, remember and learn something, for example, driving a car, learn a language, social skills,  how to use the computer, how to make a cheese cake and the like? 

            There are many interesting facts about the working of the human mind.  How do we remember things?  Where do we store the information?  How do we retrieve the information at will?  How do we recall the past events when we are stimulated by an object or a scene and the association of thoughts with the event. 

It is the power of memory that we remember what we have learnt or experienced.  Otherwise, you may find difficulty to locate your own house or where you park your car each time.  Cognitive science creates the awareness of how a person thinks, perceives, remembers and learns.  Recall how you can remember things that you did, learnt and experienced.  For example, I always can remember that the things where I put if I put the things at the same place.  I can even find it in darkness because my mental map has the record where it is.  However,  if I change the place frequently, I often get mixed up and fail to find the thing. 

Hence, I believe children learn better if teachers are consistent in their delivery of the lessons.  There must be a system to follow so that it is easier for students to learn.  That is why a child as small as 2 or 3 years old can count or say the English alphabet without much difficulty / hassle. 

In the language learning, a child hears and codes the language.  Some scientists even believe a child learns as early as prenatal stage.  Though most children only speak at 1 and a half or 2, they actually learn the language he / she is exposed to in silence through his / her interaction with adults.  So, we, adults, never underestimates the learning power of an infant!  (We have to watch our language.  Children pick up every word we utter.)

People say, “We are what we eat.”  and in parallel, we can also say, “We are what we experienced and learnt and how we were taught as well as what we are exposed to.”  A famous philosopher said, “I think therefore I am.” (if I am mistaken, his name is Voltaire).  Our thoughts are based on what we experienced, learnt and how we were taught as well as what we are exposed to.  Thus, I really believe in the power of family, school and social education on the development of a person.  Of course, life-long learning helps us to readjust and improve ourselves all the time. 

            Cognitive science gives light to us that there is immense capacity of human mind to improve and  progress.  Hence, life-long learning makes sense.  That’s why we often heard people say, “We learn from experience and mistakes.”  It is because we have the record of the events somewhere in the human mind.  (I guess there are numerous storerooms in our brain.) 

            Imagine some people who lost their memory due to accidents or illnesses or senile.  They forgot almost everything, including their family members, not to say the languages they knew once and other skills.  Have you come across someone suffering from the disease called Alzheimer.  (People say it happens mostly to old folks.) (Recently, I read an article from the newspaper saying that it was due to pesticides.)  Cognitive science deals with all these things concerning human mind.  I hope one day scientists will find the solution for the cure.

            As we all know that our brain is the most delicate organ in our system.  It is so delicate that the scientists studying the human brain just can’t go as fast as the other scientists dealing with other organs in the human body.  Hence, the knowledge of the human brain is just at a primary stage of development.  Cognitive science really includes  “researchers from various fields such as philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics, education and anthropology in the interdisciplinary study of the mind“.  It is from these different aspects of studies to get better insight of the human mind.

            It is interesting to note that the way how a child perceives (see, hear and understand ) the world makes the difference of an individual.  This, of course, has something to do with the environmental stimulation and response.  It , in turn, influence the mindset of a person, do you agree?  (That is why I often see that an individual is at the mercy of his / her environment.).   It is not surprising that different individuals having different opinions on an issue as  an individual have different perception of the world.  No matter how different an individual holds to the opinions of an issue, I think the universal truths and facts are the standard to follow as an individual reaches the stage of intellectual maturity.  Every progressive individual learns to adjust and improve all the time for the good and better.  This is the reason why development of human capital is considered a very important factor for a strong nation.

            It is due to the  research that the scientists came to know that the human brain can be divided into two hemispheres.  Did you know that our right  and left   our brain function differently?  According to the scientific report, our right brain is more inclined to imagination, arts, creativity, music and  aesthetic things whereas our left brain is mainly concerned with the power of reasoning, language,  facts, laws, physics and the other scientific stuffs.  Hence, the strength of the side of the brain becomes a factor to decide the aptitude / interest of a person.  Did you know that the right or left handed person has something to do with the power of the left or right brain?  It is believed that the left-handed person tends to have stronger development of the right brain and the right-handed person has the stronger left brain power.

            To keep both sides of the brain in optimal state is proved to be the most effective tool to learning.  What I mean here is to use both sides of the brain properly and in a good balance.  You will see that it really works wonder to your life.  To prove with an evidence, when my eldest brother went to to study, he was 37 years old with a family (3 children and a wife).  He had to work and study at the same time.  To cope with the task, he made full use of the theory of  keeping the brain in the optimal state.  That is to use both sides of the brain:  when a person is at work or studies, he uses his left brain;  our brain like our body will get tired with a certain amount of work.  It is time a person must relax with some kinds of recreations.  He/ She  may listen to music, draw, look at his fish, flowers, cook, go fishing, watch TV and so on to activate his / her right brain and let the left brain take a break. 

            Well, this is how my eldest brother planned and allocated time for his studies.  He usually studied for 45 minutes and stopped for 15 minutes for relaxation.  He said he looked at his fish to relax.  (It is his way as he likes fish. It may not work in you.)  Then he went back to study for another 45 minutes and stopped again.  He exercised strong self-discipline. Thus he got the master degree in 2 and a half years.  Actually, he needed 5 years to complete  because he did the course part-time.  The proverb, “All work and no play  makes Jack a dull boy” is indeed true. 

            There are a lot more to tell, but due to the time constraint, I must stop here.  To conclude, I would recommend you to read the book, entitled “Cognitive Science” and another book “A complete idiot’s guide:  Improving your memory”.  You can get them from the Sibu public library.  I have read them.  The books are interesting and informative.  They will help you to gain better understanding of yourself how you think, perceive, remember and learn something.