Cognitive Process

Cognitive processes are "the performance of composite cognitive activity; an operation that affects mental contents" (vocabulary.com, 2013). Three of these processes include perception, attention, and working memory. Each of these processes have their own identity and purpose that assist with committing information from short term memory to long term memory. In this paper each of these processes will be discussed in detail including what each purpose is and how it affects each person.

Perception is defined as "a set of internal sensational cognitive processes of the brain at the subconscious cognitive function layer that detects, relates, interprets, and searches internal cognitive information in the mind" (Wang, 2007). It has been said that perception is the proverbial sixth sense of human cognition because all life functions are dependent on it. According to Yingxu Wang functions such as emotion, motivation, and attitude are dictated by one's perception and each of these are perceptual functions that build the cognitive process of perception. To understand what and how perception is affected one must first understand each of the perceptual functions involved. First emotion which is a feeling that one gets internally that depends on mood, circumstances around the person, what history they have with the person/environment around them and other external stimuli. Emotions are what give a person their desire to do/see/feel a specific thing and gives them the "want to" that completes the action. This "want to" then is given a specific motivation which is the second step in the perceptual process. Motivation is what makes one work hard for something or not. For example, if one has the desire to become a Forensic Psychologist their emotion then dictates that into a desire, but just having the desire is not enough; one must have the motivation to do so. For some this motivation is to better their lives, while others it is to provide for their family, while still others their motivation could be the monetary gain that comes with being a success. The success of the action depends on how strong the motivation is and how badly one really wants to achieve those goals. The final step is the attitude. Attitude is how one goes about making the actions to get things done. If one has the desire to become a forensic psychologist and their motivation is strong their attitude will be equally strong about completing the task and they will not stop until they have met their goals. Thus one's perception is seeing themselves as a forensic psychologist until they complete that goal and a new goal is set. The other factors that affect the cognitive process of perception are that each function is felt or seen differently by individual people depending on several factors such as culture, environment, diversity, and personal ethics that steer one's motivation, emotions, and attitude toward a specific goal or means (Wang, 2007).

Attention is another cognitive process that is important in one's existence. Attention is a visual based cognitive process which assists people in their everyday lives. Many daily functions rely on attention to be executed properly such as driving, education, family, children, and work just to name a few. A study using scenic photography measured one's attention by seeing what they perceived, understood and remembered about the scene. It was found that perception, understanding and remembering are determined by where one focuses their particular attention. To decipher how a person chooses a focal point and the attention that is paid to that focal point the photographs were designed with a specific focal point in mind, this was not always in the center, nor was it always in clear view, at times was