what does cognitive mean

Cognitive (adjective) refers to mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge and understanding. It describes how people perceive, attend to, remember, reason, solve problems, and use language. When we talk about "cognitive skills," we mean the mental abilities needed for learning and thinking—for example, reading comprehension, memory, attention, logical reasoning, and problem solving. In psychology and education, the related noun is "cognition," which means the act or process of knowing and thinking. Examples: - A course that improves critical thinking aims to develop students' cognitive skills. - Cognitive development describes how a child’s thinking and understanding change as they grow. - Cognitive bias refers to a predictable error in thinking that affects decisions. Quick tip for learners: if a word is described as "cognitive," it’s connected to the mind and the way information is processed, not to physical actions or emotions.