cognitive science

American  

noun

1. the study of the precise nature of different mental tasks and the operations of the brain that enable them to be performed, engaging branches of psychology, computer science, philosophy, and linguistics.

---

cognitive science British  

noun

1. the scientific study of cognition, including elements of the traditional disciplines of philosophy, psychology, semantics, and linguistics, together with artificial intelligence and computer science

---

Example Sentences

Berke has a Ph.D. in computational cognitive science from Yale, and she says trying to get effective treatment was more onerous than the six years of getting her degree.

From Slate • Oct. 6, 2025

They hoped their research would document the challenges of performing field-based cognitive science while simultaneously proposing a framework for future studies.

From Science Daily • Dec. 3, 2024

As cognitive science has been showing, the brain is designed to respond to fear in various ways, with its own in-built defense mechanisms which produce chemicals in the response pattern, such as cortisol and adrenaline.

From Salon • Jul. 18, 2023

Lawyers won’t often admit a preference for plain language, says the study’s lead author Eric Martínez, a licensed attorney and doctoral student studying cognitive science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

From Scientific American • Jul. 10, 2023

Even in their wildest dreams, computer scientists and researchers in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, who work with intelligent interfaces, do not anticipate such a living interface.

From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Nadin, Mihai