Theoretical Perspective: Cognitive

Introduction

Generally, the terms ‘cognition’ and ‘cognitive assessment’ refer to different cognitive abilities and to different perspectives of treatment. If we accept a broad definition, numerous authors and theoretical approaches can be defined as belonging to a cognitive perspective, such as James (1890), Bartlett (1932), and Piaget (e.g. Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). More specifically, the cognitive approach focuses on the analysis of basic cognitive processes, such as perception, attention, memory, language and reasoning. In particular, the Human Information Processing approach, which inspired contemporary cognitive theories, first drew attention to the analysis of such basic processes. One of the main differences between a cognitive and behavioural approach is that the first focuses on the cognitive operations used by the human mind when a subject is engaged in a task, rather than examining general performance. In the study of mental processes, the contemporary view has been influenced not only by approaches that can be strictly defined as psychological, but also by other disciplines such as neuropsychology which studies the relationship between brain structure and cognitive operations, including the effects of brain lesions on cognitive functioning. Much neuropsychology research is in fact conducted on brain-damaged patients. What is defined as cognitive science reflects, instead, the particular interest in the study of cognitive abilities from an interdisciplinary point of view, which includes cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence and ergonomics. A cognitive assessment, which is based on cognitive science foundations, is typically aimed at evaluating not only the degree of cognitive abilities but also the presence of basic cognitive processes and how they intervene in the execution of a task. For example, when assessing reasoning abilities, researchers are interested not only in the efficiency of the output, but also in the types of processes involved and those that may be damaged. This approach can also be extended to the assessment of other psychological aspects such as personality and intelligence. For example, in assessment of personality, a cognitive perspective focuses on the cognitive operations which may yield specific psychic states, such as irrational ideas in depression, or impulsive processes in attention deficit or hyperactivity disorders, for example. On the other hand, in assessing intelligence, importance may be placed on identifying tasks which are considered critical for tapping the basic processes of intelligence. For example, when intelligence is assessed by the Raven test (1947), working memory seems to play a crucial role, while the use of other tests may highlight the importance of other components, such as speed of information processing and ability to inhibit irrelevant information.

Cognitive Assessment

A general cognitive approach, as described above, may influence any type of assessment. However, when the object of assessment is a single cognitive ability, such as perception, memory, reasoning or problem-solving etc., the approach acquires more specificity. Detailed procedures of assessment have therefore been designed to investigate the cognitive abilities considered relevant to several tasks. These assessment procedures were either born in the context of experimental and basic research, or, in some cases, represented a genuine effort to design specific psychological tests. Classical psychological tests were also adopted and analysed from the point of view of basic processes. The theoretical and empirical effort of the cognitive approach was greatly supported by studying exceptional individuals presenting specific deficits or strengths. In particular, by studying dissociation cases (which occur when a patient performs normally in one task but is impaired in a second), [Page 998]cognitive neuropsychology shows which aspect of cognitive activity deserves to be studied, analysed and assessed. For example, theoretical research has highlighted many aspects of memory such as episodic versus semantic, short-term versus long-term, procedural versus declarative, implicit versus explicit, and verbal versus non-verbal memory. A cognitive analysis applied to clinical and educational settings shows which cognitive ability deserves more attention in order to design suitable testing materials. For example, given that implicit memory is a cognitive ability which remains intact in different groups of subjects with memory problems, it is assumed that there is no need to design many standardized tests to study this aspect. Differently, explicit memory which has been shown to be damaged in particular groups, such as old people and pathological subjects, requires the development of many standardized tests. Depending on the cognitive ability of interest, there are different procedures of assessment.

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