Cognitive Process

Brain Teaser  I cdnuolt blveiiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the human mnid. Aoccdrnig to rscheerch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it doesn’t mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

The Cognitive Process  Is employed for all decisions people make  Step-by-step process where you break down the steps as though you are creating your own adventure story  As we speak – we conduct a search through our brain to use the right words  We map things out and respond in what may seem like a natural way  Our brains process information so fast, that many of our actions seem thoughtless

Have you ever found yourself trying to find the right word?  Your brain is trying to find the right word by inferring possible relationships with words that are similar to the one you wish to use  Your brain then maps all the similar words together linking information until you find your response and answer – all this happens in a split second!

Inductive/ Deductive Reasoning  Deductive Reasoning: applying general assumptions to specific cases  All turtles have shells. The animal I have captured is a turtle. I conclude that the animal in my bag has a shell.  A guitar has strings and makes sound. A violin also has strings. Therefor the violin must also make sound.  All humans have brains. Mrs. Maclachlan is a human. Therefore she has a brain.

Inductive/ Deductive Reasoning  Inductive Reasoning – collecting specific information to form a general assumption (generalizations and false assumptions)  All sheep that I’ve seen are white. All sheep must be white.  Most men enjoy sports. John is a man. He must enjoy sports.  Most women enjoy cooking. My mom is a woman. She must enjoy cooking.

In Partners  With a partner, create your own example of both inductive and deductive reasoning

Cognitive Thinking Puzzles 1) Prisoner and rope: A prisoner was attempting to escape from a tower. He found in his cell a rope that was half long enough to permit him to reach the ground safely. He divided the rope in half, tied the two parts together, and escaped. How could he have done this?

Answer  He cut the rope in half vertically.

Cognitive Thinking Puzzles 2) Ten dollars: Joe and Frank have the same amount of money. How much must Joe give Frank so that Frank has $10 more than Joe?

Answer  $5

Cognitive Thinking Puzzles 3) Coin in the bottle! If you were to put a coin into an empty bottle and then insert a cork into the neck, how could you remove the coin without taking out the cork or breaking the bottle?

Answer  Simply push the cork into the bottle and shake the coin out.

The nine-dot problem  Without lifting your pencil from the paper, draw exactly four straight, connected lines that will go through all nine dots, but through each dot only once.  

Answer  The figure below is the best known solution for the nine-dot problem. It is found that the line does not need to be within the area bounded by the nine-dots as you might have thought. Actually, the lines can be extended to solve the problem.  If you found that the problem was difficult to solve in the beginning, then it was probably because your mind was blocked by inhibitors.