COGNITIVE SCIENCE – NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE
A lot of folks reading this write-up might not be familiar with the term ‘Cognitive Science’. But the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ may well sound familiar, as its usually heard term and its a booming investigation region. ‘Cognitive Science’ may be considered as opposite of ‘Artificial Intelligence’, as former deals with study of intelligence in human ,where as later deals with intelligence of machines and the branch of personal computer science which aims to develop it.
Cognitive science, the term was coined by Christopeher Longuet – Higgins in 1973. It is an interdisciplinary field. The interdisciplines are Psychology, Neuro science, Linguistics, Philosophy of mind, Pc Science, Anthropology, Biology and Physics. The objective of Cognitive Science is to attain a total understanding of the mind/brain and its processes.
Attaining the complete understanding of the mind/brain is not feasible by single level analysis. As the field is extremely interdisciplinary, study often draws study methods from different fields such as Psychology , Neuro Science , Pc Science etc., Any of the study strategies on their own would not fully explain the procedure of brain. The relational study of the outcomes of the researches can give a clear picture of procedure of brain, but to its limits.
Think about the dilemma of remembering a phone number and recalling it later. The problem can be approached in a lot of approaches. Two of the techniques are explained here. 1 approach is to study the behavior via direct observation i.e. accuracy of the response could be measured when the phone number is recalled by the person. Yet another approach is to study the working of individual neurons whilst the person is recalling the phone number. Neither of the approach on their own would solve the problem fully, as discussed prior to.
Cognitive Science has yielded a multitude of practical applications. The region of Robotics has seen the development of new and a lot more sophisticated robots capable of executing complex tasks, therefore creating a positive economic impact. Advances in Neuro science typically result in new treatments for disorders such as Autism, Parkinson’s illness and Alzheimer’s disease. Cognitive theories in Psychology have supplied new therapies for the treatment of anxiety and depression. Cognitive insights have also produced an impact in education having led to new strategies in the teaching of reading, writing and other subjects.
Thus concentrating more on this field of investigation can yield much better outcomes to boost our society both economically and psychologically.