A Critical Argument on Cognition as a Human-Specific Capacity

A Critical Argument on Cognition as a Human-Specific Capacity Abstract . What is that only human being specially has and other animals lack of having? The mental capability or mental process that helps human being to live the life as a human being is the cognition and it can be considered as the most important mental capability. It includes all most all the mental capabilities that the human being possesses and that is the special thing the human being possesses. This cognition or the most important human mental capacity consists of many other mental processes and it helps human being to live a meaningful life. Introduction The word cognition which is used to denote commonly all the mental processes of human beings can be considered as a very important . When considering humans, cognition can be considered as the most important specific human capacity that the human being possesses of. Actually, to lead a life as a human being, the cognition takes a very important place. In the field of Psychology and other fields like Biology, Anthropology etc. also the cognition has been become a major topic. Various psychologists, scientists, biologists, educators have presented various theories regarding cognition. Taking cognition as the head, a separate school of psychology also has formed. So, it shows how important is cognition. How do people do creative activities? How do people think? How do people solve problems? How do humans create works of art, science and literature? That is all because we as humans have a higher cognitive capability. Simply and usually the word “cognition” is defined as the acquisition and use of knowledge (Rathus). Actually, the acquisition and use of knowledge involve many mental skills. The psychologists who study cognition normally direct their attention to pattern recognition, attention, memory, visual images, language, problem solving, decision making, thinking, reasoning, creativity, consciousness, sensation and perception etc. But it should be clearly mentioned that cognition includes all the mental processes that the human being possess of. Really this word is a general term used to denote thinking and many other aspects of human mental aspects. (Baron) Here, Neisser who is considered as the father cognitive psychology, in his book “Cognitive Psychology” thus mentions about cognition. “Cognition is “……sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered and used….cognition is involved in everything a human being might possible to do” (1967, p.4). In the same way, George Miller who selected the word “cognition” with Jerome Bruner thus mentions what they meant (in what sense) by the word “cognition” and what they wished using the word “cognition.” “In using the word “cognition” we were setting ourselves off from behaviorism. We wanted something that was mental, but “mental psychology” seemed terribly redundant. Common Sense psychology would have suggested some sort of anthropological investigation, and “fold psyche” would have suggested Wundt’s social psychology. What would do you use to label this set of views. We chose cognition.” (2004, p.485) As mentioned above when it is said “cognition,” it includes each and every mental process which the human being is supposed to have. So, we can clearly understand how important human cognition is. Actually, without cognition no human being is created. The cognition can be considered as the most important wall that separate human being and animals. As above mentioned, cognition possesses of many mental capabilities or capacities. One of the most important such mental capability is information processing and it has given the most important place in cognition. Information processing simply means the psychological approach that attempts to identify what occurs during the various stages of processing information. The information that the world gives us is actively changed, kept and used in the process of cognition. When it is said information processing verbal meaning, spatial orientation, inductive reasoning, number ability, word fluency etc are included. So, here, we can understand that information processing is a combination of many other cognitive capacities. Though it is true that animals also have some kind of capability of information processing it is clear that animal’s information processing is lower than humans. But if some animals are learned to do information processing they can do it in a better way comparing to other animals. But actually, when we try to learn or teach animals what we mean from certain things (words, objects) does not go the mind of the animals and they just learn and react or repeat. On the other hand, information processing is a simple thing to human being. He or she can use various cognitive capacities in information processing. Though it is a simple thing to human being, to animal information processing is a difficult task. Actually, most of the time animals do one thing at a time. For animal, it is difficult use do various cognitive capacities in the same way. We also can’t neglect consciousness which is very important when talking about cognition. Consciousness is a psychological construct that helps us to understand our observations of behavior. It has many meanings and sub divisions. The human consciousness and animal consciousness are very different and in almost all the cognitive processes in humans consciousness holds a very important place. The stage of perception during which a stimulus is identified is called pattern recognition and it is also a very important concept in cognition. (Reed). Here, pattern recognition normally deals with how people identify the objects in their environment. Here, a person’s ability to identify various patterns in the environment is important. (Reed). For example, hand writing of human beings differs person to person. Though those handwritings are different to person to person, cognitively developed person or who is capable of pattern recognition can identify those various patterns very easily. Actually, for each and every object in the world there is a pattern. Even how a person leads his or her life also has a pattern. So, to lead a normal life, pattern recognition is very important. In pattern recognition there is a process. When a human being sees or hear a pattern, our long term memory keeps that pattern and when he or she again hears or sees a pattern similar to the previous one, he or she can easily identify it. Actually, animals also capable of pattern recognition. That is why they can recognize and understand the changes in the environment, their enemies etc. But actually comparing to humans their capability of pattern recognition is very low. It has proved when trying to teach language to animals. In the learning process actually there is a process of pattern recognition. The chimpanzee Washoe was taken to teach sign language and actually comparing to humans its learning speed and capability are very low. Actually what happened here is that chimpanzee is weak in recognizing the pattern associated with sign language (There are other reasons also). Within two years it could only learn about 200 words. (Hahey, 2003). So we can clearly see the difference of pattern recognition between animals and humans. Problem solving also a very important human cognitive capacity. In our day today activities, studies and in other special tasks as human beings we have to solve problems. It is no doubt that there is no man who has never solved a problem in his or her life. Really, this problem solving is a very important human cognitive capacity. This also emphasizes the importance of the development of civilization. Actually, when a person solves a problem there is a process that takes place in that persons mind. There are four general strategies for solving problems. They are means-ends analysis, sub goal analogy and diagrams. Actually, although these are useful none of these guarantee a successful solution and hence they are called heuristics. If a problem solver uses the means end analysis he or she has to select operations that reduce the difference between the current problem state and goal state. The second strategy; the knowledge of sub goals is helpful as it reduces the size of the search space. Reaches have proved that a sub goal enables a problem solver to avoid unpromising moves by selecting a better strategy that is frequently used. Though an analogous solution is a useful thing human are unable of capturing a potential analogy diagram and benefits in design tasks. When a human being solves a problem those steps are followed and when an animal solve a problem, it is not so. When a human being solves a problem he or she comes with different answers for the same question. He or she can think convergent ( thinking that is logical and conventional and that focuses on a problem) and divergent (thinking that is loosely organized, only partially directed and unconventional ) and come to various conclusions. But animals can’t do that. Actually, comparing to animals human beings are in a high position in problem solving. Unlike animals humans can solve problems using necessary information. Really, animals are unable to make connections of facts and come to a conclusion. But there are exceptions also. Cat for an instance, when trying to catch bird or a rat some above mentioned procedures are followed. But it can’t solve serious problems. Creativity gives the meaning that the solutions are not only correct but also novel and useful. It is a product of both mind and body. Since the human being started the civilization he or she has positively used creativity. Creativity can be considered as the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. Innovation is the production or implementation of an idea. If you have ideas, but don't act on them, you are imaginative but not creative. Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being. Creativity requires passion and commitment. Out of the creative act is born symbols and myths. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness-ecstasy (Santrock). The famous scholar “Edward de Bono” says thus about creativity. “There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human recourse of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.” (Rathus, 1997). Every and each human being can think creatively. But it differs to person to person. Since the human being started the human civilization he or she has positively developed the creativity. Because of the creativity, human being has gained a lot of things. Actually, in each and every field like science and technology etc. creativity involves. Day by day various instruments and other various equipments are produced using creativity. So certainly, it is no doubt that human being actually has creativity. It is true that each and every animal has some kind of creativity. For an instance the Wadu bird makes its nest beautifully and ants make their house beautifully and protectively. But when we compare the nest which was made by a Wadu bird five hundred years ago and a nest made by a present Wadu bird we can clearly see that both those nests are similar in all aspects. There is no novelty or addition of the present nest. What Edward De Brono has said is correct. But unlike animals humans day by day invents novel things and add various things that already exist. Today people do not use the same plane which was invented by Right brothers. No we use the telephone that was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. Various facilities have been added to the telephone invented by Graham Bell. Though the first invented computer needed a large room to be kept, now we can keep our computer or laptop in a small room. In the same way, the fashions which were used last year are no more used. What has happened is thorough the time process the human beings has been able make and add new things to existing things and generate new things using his or her creativity. Comparing to animal s actually this is a very important cognitive capacity. Intelligence is a combination of abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving (Buyer). So intelligence is a very important cognitive ability that the human being has as it is a combination of many other cognitive factors. It is true that animals also have intelligence. For an instance, when an animal sees an enemy animal it finds a safe place to hide. It clearly knows that there is danger from that enemy animal. So, here, in this process of hiding; understanding, reasoning, planning, problem solving have been occurred. In the same way, some animals are capable of solving small problems. For an instance some chimpanzees use sticks to pick fruits that are above their height (Baker). So it clearly proves that they have something called intelligence. Here, we can see that animals are in a very low state of learning comparing to humans. Here learning abstract things is very much difficult for animals. Humans can think abstractly. They can understand and assume if this happens what will happen next. But animals are weak in those performances. Language is also another very important cognitive capacity. “A language is a collection of symbols and rules for combining those symbols which can be used to create an infinite variety of messages.” (Coon). Normally a language is symbolic, generative, and structured. As we use spoken sounds and written words to represent and communicate about the world around us we say that language is symbolic and as small number of words can create or generate an infinite number of sentences languages is generative. As humans can produce grammatical sentences following grammatical rules we say language is structured. As our human language has those three distinctive three characteristics we have a well developed language. In the same way, our language is easy to understand, easy to learn, easy to comprehend and gives clear meanings. It is true that animals also have some kind of communicative system or language. But almost all the communicative systems used by animals are just only some sort of sounds and those sounds do not give a clear meaning. But actually that sound can be understood by another animal in the same species. It is said that bees use simple but elegant system to communicate messages such as flowers comminuting a nectar supply are about 200 meters away on a line that is 20 degrees south of the angle of the sun (von Frich, 1995). Crows also use a communicative system. When a crow finds a food it informs others crows also about it. Though crows have a one kind of sound it can uses that sound as suits the occasion. Monkeys, birds also use a communicative system. But those communicative systems are not developed as humans. It is very difficult to teach human language to animals. The two psychologists Beatrice and Allen Gardner did an experiment using the chimpanzee “Washoe” to teach human language. They could only teach “Washoe” to understand simple things, answer to simple questions, to enter something into something in the process of two years. In the same way, in 1990 the parrot Alex African was trained by Irene Peppeberg to speak about 80 words. (Baron). In the same way, the chimpanzee Vicky was trained to speak human word as “mama, papa, cup” etc. But, actually it took a long time to train him. That time duration is very long comparing to human baby. Animals languages do not develop and in contrast human language is developing day by day. Some new words, new sounds, new grammatical rules are added to human language day by day. Another cognitive capacity that human being processes is thinking. Thinking is the mental activity involved in understanding, processing, and communicating information. Thinking entails attending to information, representing it mentally, reasoning about it and making judgments and decisions about it. Thinking is an aspect of cognition and generally refers to conscious planned attempts to make sense of our world. When a human being is involved in thinking, all the above mentioned mental processes are involved. But when an animal think are all those processes involved or do animals can think? Animals can think but their thinking is not developed as human thinking. Specially, when come to thinking concepts are very important. Specially, when come to concepts which can be considered as building blocks of thinking animals in a lower position comparing to humans Concepts can represent objects, events and activities and vision of things that never were. Do animals have concepts? Do animals can think of objects, events that never were? Actually, they can’t do that. For an instance, we know colors like red, yellow, green, black etc. They all are concepts and we also know what is meant by those colors. For an instance, the color red is mostly used for giving the meaning danger. But does an animal can understand what is meant from red? It does not know. But actually if it was thought that it gives some meaning it can understand it but, the not the meaning is understood. In the same way, we as humans, use symbols like cross, the wheel of dhamma or doctrine (Dhammacakaka). As humans we clearly know what is meant by those symbols. Animals can’t do so. But it should be noticed that some animals are capable of learning symbols For example the cases of Vicky and Washoe can be taken. So those researches clearly show that animals also capable of learning symbols. But when we clearly observe those studies of chimpanzees we can see that though those chimpanzees learn those symbols they do not know the meaning that hide in those symbols. Simply we say perception to the process how we perceive the world. Actually perception is an active process in which sensations are organized and interpreted to form a representation of the world (Rathus). Though perception has a close connection with sensation perception reflects our experiences and expectations as it makes sense of sensory stimuli. Comparing to animals human perception takes an advanced place. A person standing 15 feet away and a doll12 inch doll may cast similar sized images on the back of a human being. But the human being can understand the clear difference between those two objects. In that process to recognize those two different objects human experience is very important. When we look at animals we can see that animals are somewhat lack of perception. For an instance we as human beings know that the mirror reflects the image of an object and we that is only an image. We don’t think that in the mirror there is another person. But when it comes to animal does the same thing happen? No. I have seen that the cat in our home when it shows its image on the mirror it tries to catch the image and strike with hands and does various things. What has happened here is that the cat has recognized that on the mirror there is another cat. But sometimes we can see that some animals are very good in perception. For an instance in a dangerous situation they can recognize it before and escape it. When there are environmental changes they can understand very well than humans. So, we can clearly see what the perception position of animals is. But it is true that perception differs to person to person. Another very important cognitive factor that comes under cognition is memory. Actually memory is very important for each and every activity of us. Simply memory remembering the events or experiences and memory has large categories. In the process of memory encoding, storage and retrieval are also involved. Actually for other cognitive purposes also memory is very important. For an instance, if we do not have a memory how do we recognize our friends, how do we learn, how do we solve problems? Actually there arise many problems if someone does not have a memory. The people who have lost by facing accidents also have clearly proved that without memory there arise many problem s in our life. When we learn we have to keep in memory the new words, new sentence patterns etc. From our short term memory information is sent to long term memory for future usage. It is true that animals also can remember something. Actually in the process of learning to chimpanzee Washoe, it could learn only 200 words in two years of time. This is a very long period comparing to human baby. The chimpanzee is weak in memory process. But there are some animals who has some kind of memory capacity. For an instance the parrot can speak some words by memory. Within the time of years a lot of words can be learned by a human baby. It is said that within two years a child can learn 12000 new words. So here we can clearly understand the cognitive differences between humans and animals. The physical brain structure is also very important in memory. Actually, “parts of brain such as the hippocampus are also involved in the formation of new memories- or the transfer of information from short term memory to long term memory’’ (Rodrigue and Levy, 2001). Comparing to animals human brain is larger and has large number of neurons that facilitate memory. Animals are lack of those things. In the process of memory humans keep something in memory with a visual image. For an instance if we say mother there is a visual image of in our memory. But animals do not use such a visual image for memory or they are lack capability of doing those things. Actually, the biology of animals does not support those possibilities to animals. We as humans make future plans. We think about our future and think how to make our future happy and successful. Actually animals do not think like humans. Most of the animals do not have a feeling about future. But ants, bees etc collect food for future. But not all the animals do that. In the same way only human beings do meritorious deeds and engage in meritorious works. Only human beings (not all) believe in what is hell and what is heaven and reincarnation. Animals do not consider those things. Actually, only human being has a culture. We have norms and values that are bound with our life. We respect others, adults, parents etc. For an instance I have terrible conflict with my elder sister and I want to beat her and I am physically strong than my elder sister I do not do so. I do not do so as it is against our rules and it is accepted as bad by the society. But actually when considering the animals’ side it is not so. For an instance if a dog has a conflict with another dog and the first dog wants to attack the second and if it is physically strong it attacks the second. We know that norms and values should be protected. But animals do not do so they do not respect their mothers and animals. We can see that some animals like dogs have sex with their mothers and fathers. So it shows the lawful state of animals. When we observe the cognitive difference between animals and humans one notable thing that we can’t forget is the biological difference between those two categories. Actually, human body has been created with relevant to cognitive functions. For an instance, our human brain and an animal brain have a great difference. Animals can’t talk like humans because the biology does not support it. It the same way, our mouth and other organs speed and our cognition. Neural structures, enhanced wiring, and forms of connectivity among nerve cells not found in any animal, challenging the view that the human brain is simply an enlarged chimpanzee brain. Though we give priority place to human cognition and praise it we can’t completely reject animal cognition. Hauser, a researcher says; “Animals share many of the building blocks that comprise human thought, but paradoxically, there is a great cognitive gap between humans and animals,” “By looking at key differences in cognitive abilities, we find the elements of human cognition that are uniquely human. The challenge is to identify which systems animals and human share, which are unique, and how these systems interact. However animals are also known to show love, affection, sacrifice, loyalty and other characteristics associated with intelligence of a high order much beyond our expectations and to our great wonder and admiration” (Hauser). This idea of Hauser is completely right and actually though animals are considered lower position to humans, animals have been friends of humans throughout the history. For example, dogs, cats, parrots, squirrel, fish have been close friends of human being. In the same way reaches done using dolphins have proved that dolphins have some high cognitive capabilities. The researches show that among the cognitive capabilities concept formation, sensory skills, and the use of mental representation are very important. In the same way studies are done now to investigate dolphins” specific areas of acoustic mimicry, behavioral mimicry, comprehension of novel sequences in an artificial language, memory, monitoring of self behaviors (Gottfredson). When we consider all the above mentioned facts, it is clear that human being’s cognitive capacity does not become second in front of cognition of other animals and human cognition is a special capacity and it is a blessing for humans. Conclusion Human being is the only being that has the highest cognitive capability today among the present species. No any other animal is capable of challenging human being. That is because human being has the best well developed mental process called cognition. Only humans have gained high levels of pattern recognition, attention, memory, visual images, language, problem solving, decision making, thinking, reasoning, creativity, consciousness, sensation and perception etc. No any other animal has such a well developed cognitive capacity. This cognition helps human being to lead a very successful and superior life than animals. The development of science, technology, engineering, art and other fields are creations of human cognition. 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