Cognitive Competences

Capabilities to think, understand. and make decisions

Cognitve competences are the set of mental capabilities that allow people process information, understand reality, reason and make decisions in an effective way. They are related with the internal thinking processes and they constitute an essential element for learning, resolution of problems and the adaptation to new situations.

These competences make reference to how do we think, how do we interpret information and how do we make use of thinking for acting. They are fundamental in any life context - educational, professional and personal - and they are developed in a progressive manner throughout time, from experience and learning.

What do cognitive competences include?

Cognitive competences integrate different mental processes implied in comprehension and reasoning. Among the most relevants can be found:

• Attention and concentration: capability of focusing mental resources in a task, keep cognitive effort and manage distractions.
• Memory and comprehension: ability to retain information, relate it with previous knowledge and understand its meaning.
• Analytic thinking: capability to decompose information in parts, identify relations, causes and consequencies and understand complex structures.
• Critic thinking: reflexive analysis of information, arguments and evidences, questioning assumptions and avoiding superficial interpretations.
• Logic reasoning: capability to establish coherent relations, inquire conclusions and solve problems in a structured way.
• Resolution of problems: identification of problems, alternative analysis and application of strategies to reach effective solutions.
• Cognitive creativity: capability to generate new ideas, establish original conections and propose alternative approaches in a situation.
• Metacognition: awareness and control over own's thinking processes, including planning, supervision and learning assesment.

These capabilities do not act in isolation, but rather in an interrelated manner, adjusting the basis of intellectual functioning.

Importance of cognitive competences

Cognitive competences are essential because:

• They support significative learning and the acquisition of new knowledge.
• They allow to understand complex and changing environments.
• They facilitate the making of informed decisions.
• They improve the capability of adaptation in new or unpredictable situations.

They favour autonomous and reflexive thinking.

Their development contributes that people do not only accumulate information, but rather that they are able to interpret it, assess it and apply it in an effective way.

Cognitive competences in educational and professional contexts

In the educational context, cognitive competences are key for academic success, since they allow to understand contents, solve complex tasks and learn in an autonomous manner.

In the professional context, they are as well decisive for:

• Analyzing laboral situations.
• Solving technical or organizational problems.
• Making decisions under uncertain situations.
• Learning new procedures or techonologies.
• Innovating and improving processes.

Therefore, cognitive competences are considered a transversal factor in the performance and employability, independently of the sector or level of qualification.

A basis for learning and daily life

Beyond study and work, cognitive competences inluence in daily life, helping to understand information, value options, antcipate consequencies and act in a consciuous and responsible manner.

In set, cognitive competences constitute a fundamental pillar for intellectual development, since they allow people to think with rigour, learn from experience and face challenges that personal, social and professional life poses in an effective way,