cognition

American  

[kog-nish-uhn] / kɒgˈnɪʃ ən /

noun

• cognitions
  plural

1. the act or process of knowing; perception.

2. the product of such a process; something thus known, perceived, etc.

3. knowledge.

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cognition British  

/ kɒɡˈnɪʃən /

noun

1. the mental act or process by which knowledge is acquired, including perception, intuition, and reasoning

2. the knowledge that results from such an act or process

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cognition Scientific  

/ kŏg-nĭsh′ən /

1. The mental process of knowing, including awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncognition
  noun
• self-cognition
  noun
• cognitional
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cognitions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cognition

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English cognicioun, from Latin cognitiōn-, stem of cognitiō “knowledge, a learning,” equivalent to cognit(us) “learned, known” (past participle of cognōscere “to learn, become acquainted,” from co- co- + gnōscere, nōscere “to learn”; see know ¹) + -iō -ion

Explanation

Cognition is the act of thinking, perceiving, and understanding. It's cognition that makes it possible for you to learn a foreign language. The word cognition is most often used in scholarly or formal writing about learning and thinking, though you can also use it to describe what happens when you use your brain power to complete a crossword puzzle or remember math equations for a test. Cognition comes from the Latin cognitio, meaning "a getting to know, knowledge" combining com-, "together," and gnoscere, "to know."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cognition cognitions

Thirty days later, the treated mice had improvements in skin thickness and bone mass, along with better performance on tests of learning, cognition, and balance.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026

Mr. Berg is founder and director of Reciprocal Research, a nonprofit organization studying AI cognition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

Some studies also suggest that chewing can help with cognition.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

For example, bumblebee cognition and foraging efficiency are impaired by heatwaves of 32°C.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026

In that moment in the Gulf, Red Team’s powers of rapid cognition were intact—and Blue Team’s were not.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

“There are intrusions of traumatic memory, there’s avoidance of salient reminders, there are negative alterations in cognitions and in mood, and there are alterations in arousal and reactivity,” Kaufman said.

From The Verge ● Apr. 27, 2022

Hope-related cognitions are important: Snyder and his colleagues proposed that a person’s level of hope leads him or her to choose learning or performance goals.

From Time ● Jun. 17, 2015

The attitudes, cognitions, emotions, and personal values that comprise mental toughness develop as a result of repeated exposure to a variety of experiences, challenges, and adversities.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 19, 2014

Such lightning-fast cognitions are possible partly because the brain makes certain automatic assumptions: it figures that light has traveled in a straight line from the object to our eyes.

From New York Times ● Nov. 17, 2012

In reality, however, the sum of our actions and cognitions is no series of facts and intervening vacua, but a continuous stream.

From Human, All-Too-Human, Part II by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche