A multidisciplinary field of research that draws upon anthropology, artificial intelligence (e.g., symbolic information-processing models, neural networks, machine learning), cognitive psychology, computer sciences, epistemology, linguistics, neuroscience, and philosophy (especially philosophy of mind and of mathematics). Its overarching goal is to answer long-standing epistemological questions about the nature of knowledge, its sources and component parts, and …
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Cognitive immaturity hypothesis
The argument that younger children have less mature cognitive capacities, so that benefits of concentrating on a cognitively demanding task decrease after a shorter time than for older children. Benefits, however, can be increased through taking breaks for play. A key feature of the hypothesis is that the cognitive abilities of children are not inferior …
Cognitive neuroscience
An integrative area of study (in fact, it comes close to being an inter discipline) that draws mainly from cognitive psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience and linguistics to study the neural dynamics of psychological functions such as face processing, intra- and inter-hemisphere processing, learning and memory, and the development of such functions, using brain mapping and …
Cognitive functionalist approach
The view that language structure is shaped by the semantic and pragmatic properties of the messages being communicated, and by the mechanisms of language perception and production. Standing in contrast to the ‘generative approach’, it holds that the function of language (viz., communication) constrains the range of grammatical rules both between and within natural languages. …
Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)
Developed from Ellis and Beck’s cognitive theories of depression, it aims to challenge and eliminate negative distortions and replace negative automatic thoughts with alternative adaptive thoughts by using logical analysis and behavioural experiments. Behavioral techniques include increasing rewarding activities (activity scheduling), decreasing behavior that is followed by unpleasant consequences, training family/friends to praise/encourage constructive behaviors …
Cognitive development
In very general terms, the development of abilities necessary for understanding and organizing the world and including, for example, the acquisition of those required for discrimination, memory and problem solving. Piaget‘s genetic epistemology had a major impact on conceptualising and studying cognitive development, with his functional universals of assimilation and accommodation interacting in the process …
Cognition
A generic term involving high level functions such as recognising, concept formation, imagining, judging, problem solving, reasoning, remembering, and thinking. Applied to the social domain (i.e., social cognition),it refers to how people select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions. It is intimately related to perception and difficult to distinguish from …
Cochlear nucleus
The portion of the medulla in the lower brain stem to which the auditory nerve connects. This area is organized by frequency responses characteristics. Located on the floor of the fourth ventricle, it is the first relay station in the auditory nerve. See Auditory (or acoustic) nerve, Brain stem, Cochlea, Cranial nerves, Medulla oblongata, Ventricle
Coding scheme
A set or sets of mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories used when coding behavior, either live or video recorded or from transcripts. See Content analysis, Generalized sequential querier (GSEQ), Interval recording, Lumping (versus splitting), Sequential data interchange standard (SDIS), The Observer, Zero-one time sampling
Cochlear implant
Used in deaf children before they have acquired to ability to use language, it converts speech into electrical pulses that the auditory nerve can process. It consists of a microphone that is fitted outside the ear, which receives speech sounds. The microphone amplifies the sounds into a speech processor linked by a cable, and then …