THE IMPORTANCE OF COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT

The Assessment of Cognitive Potential

The cognitive functions represent all complex brain functions that allow people to live as cultural and social human beings, and to interact well with their immediate environment.

There are five primary cognitive functions:

Memory: acts along with all the other brain functions and is used in all areas of daily life, such as storing and recalling pieces of information like telephone numbers or travel itineraries over a long period of time. Memory is also made up of much more automated functions, such as storing knowledge about very specific skills, like how to drive a car or ride a bicycle.

Language: is obviously used in all professional (and non-professional) relationships. Its importance depends on the specifics of a job role. Language skills are extremely important when working as a call-center agent, whereas a machines technician may not depend on them as much for success.

Logical Reasoning: is also involved at all levels of daily life, from the sequential following of simple rules, such as a going through all steps of a cookbook recipe, all the way to dealing with more complex situations, such as management risk assessments.

Attention: is a crucial cognitive mechanism by which people can process relevant information. The effects of attention (or the lack of it) can easily be recognized in all situations where several tasks must simultaneously processed. These tasks can vary, from the sales rep dialing the phone while mentally preparing the upcoming conversation, to the military plan pilot deciding very quickly to fire while navigating through turbulance.

Visual and Spatial Skills: These abilities involve the processing of visual information and object recognition. They are used in all actions involving sight. Visual and spatial skills also involve the mental imagery necessary to visualize a situation in order to determine a next step. These skills are used by a skier replaying his/her mountain route, or by truck drivers trying to optimize their time by mentally planning their route.