From Carrie Hill, PhD,
Your Guide to Alzheimer's Disease.
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Definition: Cognitive refers to brain processes such as thinking, attention, perception, learning, memory, reasoning, problem solving, decision making, and planning. Cognitive processes are distinguished from emotional processes (feelings) and behavioral processes (actions).

Examples: Cognitive symptoms refer to problems with the processes mentioned above, such as thinking, memory, and learning.

Cognitive disorders refer to medical conditions that compromise one or more cognitive processes.

Cognitive retraining refers to guided activities designed to help people with cognitive disorders improve their functioning in relation to learning, memory, problem solving, and other cognitive processes.