Dual process theories (DPT), Electroencephalography,
Emotional intelligence, Feeling, Fields of
vision, Habits, Hicks Law, Individual differences,
Intelligence, Intention- intentionality, Metacognition,
Motor learning, Neural networks, Open and closed
skills, Perceptual-cognitive expertise, Personality,
PETTLEP, Psychophysiology, Pupillometry, Reversal
theory, Self-confidence, Self-efficacy, Self-handicapping,
Self-presentation, Self-regulation, Social learning, Think
Aloud)
The term ‘cognition’ is derived from the Latin word
cognoscere (‘to know’) and denotes the activity or process
of knowing. Therefore, cognitive processes (sometimes
known as ‘cognitive function’) are mental
activities, such as thinking, by which people acquire, store, and use their knowledge of themselves, others,
and the world around them. Typical cognitive processes
include attention (“the concentration of mental effort on
sensory or mental events”; Moran & Toner, 2017, p.
379), working memory (“a brain system that provides
temporary storage and manipulation of the information
necessary for such complex cognitive tasks as language
comprehension, learning and reasoning”; Baddeley,
1992, p. 556) and thinking (the “internal processes
involved in making sense of the environment, and
deciding what action might be appropriate”; Eysenck &
Keane, 2015, p. 1). The term ‘executive control’ refers
to a collection of higher-order cognitive processes (e.g.,
working memory and inhibitory control) that are
“responsible for organizing and coordinating behavior
in order to perform complex goal-directed actions”
(Morasch, Raj, & Bell, 2013, p. 989). Executive cognitive
processes help people to set goals strategically, to
choose and prioritize tasks and actively to inhibit distractions.
The roots of modern cognitive research may
be traced back to the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1781/
1929), who postulated that the mind creates representations
of the world and uses these cognitive templates to
filter and interpret events and experiences. Recent years
have witnessed an upsurge of research interest in ‘metacognition’
or people’s insights into, and control over, their
own mental processes. For example, in sport psychology,
Brick, MacIntyre, and Campbell (2015) found that expert
endurance runners used metacognitive strategies (e.g.,
planning, monitoring) before, during and after races.
