Cognitive Skills

Cognitive Skills certainly involve consciousness and our ability to think at deeper levels. Between the ages of 13-22, our brain goes through a process of synaptic pruning (greater synaptic connections), myelination (axonal insulation) and dendritic branching that added together contribute to make critical thinking possible. During this time we have the ability to advance beyond concrete thinking by choosing to practice building the working brain’s critical cognitive skills of synthetic thinking and analytical thinking:  1.) synthetic thinking is hypothetical-deductive thinking (deductive reasoning) that moves beyond cause-and-effect. Synthetic thinking combines ideas into a whole –—> “to put together.” It makes sense of how parts fit, combine, and come together. The primary focus is on studying the whole. Synthetic thinking systematically deduces (traces the cause of) by assembling and combining elements. Synthetics is involved in the Triadic Model and Socratic Dialogue by resolving contradictions between thesis and antithesis, on its way to forming a synthesis. Synthetic thinking involves consilient thinking (more to come) of diversity, crossing boundaries, blending, and convergence of ideas. Our brain tends towards patterns, and one natural pattern is for our brain to synthesize and cluster elements together. Synthetic thinking contributes to advanced awareness and enhanced comprehension. It is synthetic-deductive thinking that is involved in the Deductive Model’s Scientific Method, and 2.) analytical thinking is inductive-hypothetical thinking (inductive reasoning) that breaks elements into smaller parts. Analysis cuts the whole into chunks and studies the parts ——> “to loosen up.” The primary focus is to astutely study the parts. Analytical thinking is reductionist reasoning that systematically induces (to lead or bring in), disassembles, and reduces elements into separate units. Analytical thinking contributes to advanced awareness and enhanced comprehension. Analytical-inductive thinking is associated with the traditional Inductive Model’s Scientific Method

cognitive skills

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