COGNITIVE ABILITIES AND THEIR TYPES

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE “INTERNATIONAL AND HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE, PROBLEMS, SOLUTIONS”, OCTOBER 30-31, 2025 379 COGNITIVE ABILITIES AND THEIR TYPES Shakxaldarova Gulchekhra Sagdiyevna DSc Doctoral Student, National Institute of Educational Pedagogy named after Qori Niyazi https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17582339 Abstract. This article discusses the types of cognitive abilities and their content. It is given what characteristics these abilities have. The article deals with the cognitive skills are the foundational brain-based abilities that make learning possible. The most effective form of organization of the educational process is core skills include perception, attention, memory, and logical reasoning. Key words: cognitive, abilities, skills, perception, attention, memory, logical reasoning. Introduction. Cognitive skills are mental skills used in acquiring knowledge, manipulating information, reasoning, and problem-solving. Synonyms are cognitive abilities, cognitive functions, or cognitive capabilities. Cognitive skills can be considered a person’s tools for learning. With the right tools, one can complete tasks with ease and efficiency. Imagine, for example, trying to mix cement with a spoon rather than a cement mixer. Imagine trying to mow the lawn with a pair of scissors! One of the most common complaints among educators is that their students lack the cognitive or brain-based abilities to handle a curriculum. Although this is anecdotal at best, teaching cognitive skills is overlooked at all levels of education. Methods. The word core refers to the central, most essential part of anything. In the same way, core cognitive skills are the foundational brain-based abilities that make learning possible. Without them, academic progress is likely to stall no matter how good the teaching or curriculum. These core skills include perception, attention, memory, and logical reasoning. Perception Imagine looking at a red apple. Your eyes receive light waves reflected from its surface this is sensation. But recognizing it as an apple, understanding its shape, and associating it with the word red or fruit that’s perception. Sensation is the raw input of information by our sensory receptors for example, the eyes, ears, skin, nostrils, and tongue. In vision, sensation occurs when rays of light are collected by the eye and focused on the retina. In hearing, sensation occurs as waves of pulsating air are collected by the outer ear and transmitted through the bones of the middle ear to the cochlear nerve. Perception, also called processing, is the brain’s interpretation of what is sensed. For example, the light striking the retina may be interpreted as a particular color, pattern, or shape. Similarly, sounds collected by the ears may be interpreted as music, a human voice, or background noise. In essence, perception means interpretation. • Visual perception is the cognitive component of interpreting visual stimuli. Simply put, it is what the brain does with what the eyes see. • Auditory perception is the ability to identify, interpret, and assign meaning to sound-it is what the brain does with what the ears hear. • A related skill is phonological awareness, particularly phonemic awareness-the ability to hear and manipulate the individual sounds (phonemes) in words. This auditory skill is at the heart of learning to read. INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE “INTERNATIONAL AND HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE, PROBLEMS, SOLUTIONS”, OCTOBER 30-31, 2025 380 • Another essential aspect is processing speed, which refers to the time it takes to perceive information, interpret it, and formulate or enact a response. In simpler terms, it’s how long it takes to get things done. A slower processing speed can make even routine tasks feel overwhelming or laborious. Perception is shaped not only by the senses but also by experience. A lack of experience may cause a person to misinterpret what they have seen or heard. “We see things not as they are but as we are.” Attention Perception depends on attention. Attention is what allows us to focus deliberately on certain stimuli while ignoring others. We don’t and can’t notice everything in our environment. Instead, we choose (sometimes consciously, sometimes not) what to pay attention to and what to tune out. This mental filter prevents us from being overwhelmed by the complexity of the world around us. In doing so, attention plays a central role in how we perceive, remember, and learn. The psychologist William James recognized the power of attention more than a century ago. In Psychology: The Briefer Course, he wrote: “A thing may be present to a man a hundred times, but if he persistently fails to notice it, it cannot be said to enter his experience.” Attention can be divided into three main types: • Focused attention is the ability to concentrate on one specific stimulus while ignoring distractions. A child reading a book in a noisy room relies on this skill. • Sustained attention is the capacity to maintain focus over time-for example, during a full class period or while completing a multi-step task. • Divided attention is the ability to split focus between two or more tasks at once, such as taking notes while listening to a lecture. Memory Memory is the mental process by which information is encoded, stored, and later retrieved. Although we often speak of “memory” as if it were a single ability, it’s actually a set of distinct but related systems. Each type plays a unique role in learning. Depending on how long information is stored, memory can be divided into four major categories: • Sensory memory holds impressions of sensory input for a very brief time just long enough for the brain to decide whether to process it further. For example, when you glance at a word and still see it in your mind for a split second afterward, that’s iconic memory, a type of sensory memory. Iconic memory stores what we see Echoic memory stores what we hear Haptic memory stores what we feel. • Short-term memory holds small amounts of information for a few seconds such as a phone number you’re about to dial. It’s fragile and easily lost unless actively rehearsed. • Working memory goes a step further: it allows us to hold and manipulate information. Like a mental workspace, it helps us follow multi-step instructions, solve problems, and keep track of our thoughts. For example, solving (3 × 3) + (4 × 2) in your head requires holding both intermediate results 9 and 8 in working memory to reach the final answer. Long-term memory stores information more permanently, from basic facts to motor skills like riding a bicycle. Some of this information we can recall deliberately; other memories influence us without conscious awareness. INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE “INTERNATIONAL AND HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE, PROBLEMS, SOLUTIONS”, OCTOBER 30-31, 2025 381 When it comes to memory, one’s senses are involved too. Visual memory involves the brain’s ability to store and retrieve previously experienced visual sensations and perceptions when the original stimuli are no longer present. Various researchers have stated that as much as 80 percent of all learning occurs through the eye, with visual memory being a crucial aspect. Auditory memory involves taking in information that is presented orally, processing that information, storing it in one’s mind, and then recalling what one has heard. Basically, it involves the skills of attending, listening, processing, storing, and recalling. Sequential memory requires one to recall items in a specific order. For example, the order of the elements is paramount in counting and saying the days of the week, months of the year, a telephone number, and the alphabet. Visual sequential memory is the ability to remember things seen in sequence, while auditory sequential memory is the ability to remember things heard in order. Logical reasoning Logical reasoning is the process of reaching a conclusion through a rational, step-by-step approach based on known facts or observations. It underpins our ability to make sense of information, solve problems, and draw sound conclusions. Deductive reasoning begins with a broad truth (the major premise), such as the statement that all men are mortal. This is followed by the minor premise, a more specific statement, such as that Socrates is a man. A conclusion follows: Socrates is mortal. The conclusion cannot be false if both the major and minor premises are true. In inductive reasoning, broad conclusions are drawn from specific observations; data leads to conclusions. If the data shows a tangible pattern, it will support a hypothesis. For example, having seen ten white swans, we could use inductive reasoning to conclude that all swans are white. Of course, this hypothesis is easier to disprove than prove, and premises are not necessarily true, but true given the existing evidence and that one cannot find a situation in which it is not. Why do cognitive skills matter? Many studies over many decades have shown that cognitive skills - perception, attention, memory, and logical reasoning - determine an individual’s learning ability; according to Oxfordlearning.com, they are the skills that “separate the good learners from the so-so learners.” In essence, when cognitive skills are strong, learning is fast and easy. Conversely, when cognitive skills are weak, learning becomes a challenge. Results. Since cognitive abilities are crucial to reading, writing, math, and learning, they are typically impaired in developmental disorders of attention, language, reading, and mathematics, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia. Each cognitive skill plays a part in processing new information. That means if even one of these skills is weak, no matter what kind of information is coming one’s way, grasping, retaining, or using that information is impacted. Most learning challenges are the result of weak cognitive skills. But more importantly, our core cognitive abilities are crucial to developing higher-order cognitive functions. Key to higher-order cognitive skills. Learning does not take place on a single level but is a stratified process. For example, one has to learn to count before it becomes possible to learn to add and subtract. Suppose one tried to teach a child who had not yet learned to count to add or subtract. That would be impossible, and no amount of effort would ever succeed in teaching the INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE “INTERNATIONAL AND HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE, PROBLEMS, SOLUTIONS”, OCTOBER 30-31, 2025 382 child to add and subtract. This shows that counting is a skill that needs to be mastered before it becomes possible to learn to do calculations. In the same way, core, lower-level cognitive abilities must be acquired first, before it becomes possible to master higher-order brain-based skills. Discussion. Higher-order cognitive skills also called higher-order thinking skills are complex cognitive skills that go beyond basic observation of facts and memorization. They are what we are talking about when we want our students to be evaluative, creative, and innovative. According to Paul and Elder, much of our thinking left to itself is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed, or downright prejudiced. Yet, the quality of our life and what we will produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Critical thinking is the ability to think in an organized and rational manner to understand connections between ideas and facts. It helps you decide what to believe. In other words, it’s “thinking about thinking” identifying, analyzing, and then fixing flaws in our thinking. Critical thinking is the foundation of a good education. Bloom’s taxonomy is an educational model that describes the cognitive processes of learning and developing mastery of subjects. Named after Benjamin Bloom, head of a committee of researchers and educators, this model was developed in the 1950s and 60s. Bloom’s taxonomy and critical thinking go hand in hand. Bloom’s taxonomy takes students through a thought process of analyzing information or knowledge critically. The goal is to encourage higher-order thought in students by building up from lower-level cognitive abilities. This framework helps educators create lessons that progressively build upon foundational knowledge, ultimately leading to deeper understanding and more complex language use. 1. Remembering: Focus: Recalling facts, information, and basic vocabulary. Examples:Matching words with definitions. Identifying characters in a story. Listing the parts of speech. 2. Understanding: Focus: Explaining concepts, summarizing information, and demonstrating comprehension. Examples: Explaining the meaning of a proverb. Summarizing a short story in one's own words. Comparing and contrasting two characters. 3. Applying: Focus: Using learned information in new situations, such as applying grammar rules in writing or speaking. Examples:Writing a sentence using a specific tense. Using new vocabulary in a conversation. Creating a dialogue based on a given situation. 4. Analyzing: Focus: Breaking down information into parts, identifying relationships, and drawing conclusions. Examples: Analyzing the structure of a poem. Identifying the author's purpose in a text. Comparing and contrasting different writing styles. 5. Evaluating: Focus: Making judgments based on criteria, assessing the quality of information, and justifying opinions. Examples: Evaluating the effectiveness of an argument in an essay. Critiquing a piece of writing. Justifying a preference for a particular book. INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE “INTERNATIONAL AND HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE, PROBLEMS, SOLUTIONS”, OCTOBER 30-31, 2025 383 6. Creating: Focus: Producing new and original work, such as writing a story, creating a presentation, or designing a project. Examples: Writing a short story with a unique plot. Creating a presentation on a chosen topic. Designing a poster to promote a book. By incorporating these different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy into English language lessons, teachers can ensure that students are not only learning the basics of the language but also developing higher-order thinking skills that are essential for effective communication and critical engage. LITERATURE REVIEW: 1. Pedagogue. Merriam Webster Online Dictionary. 2018. https://www.merriam– webster.com/dictionary/pedagogue 2. Richards J.C (ND). Difference Between Task, Exercise, Activity. Retrieved from http://www.professorjackrichards.com/difference–task–exercise–activity/ 3. Richards J.C., Rodgers Th.S. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. – NY: Cambridge University Press, 2009. – 270p. 4. Rod Ellis (2018) Reflections on Task–Based Language Teaching. Multilingual Matters: Second Language Acquisition – 328 p. 5. https://images.app.goo.gl/acdTQXLSacQb1r87A