What is it?

According to Nick Bostrom and Anders Sandberg, 'Cognition can be defined as the processes an organism uses to organize information. This includes acquiring information (perception), selecting (attention), representing (understanding) and retaining (memory) information, and using it to guide behavior (reasoning and coordination of motor outputs).'


It could be argued that there is a difference between cognitive enhancement and cognitive therapy. Therapy is for sufferers of a cognitive disability or problem, such as ADHD or memory loss and therefore something is taken to help restore and fix that problem, whereas enhancement is for those who do not suffer from a cognitive disability, and something is taken to enhance and further their cognitive abilities rather than restore them.




Resource: Bostrom, Nick, and Anders Sandberg. "Cognitive Enhancement: Methods, Ethics, Regulatory Challenges"Nick Bostrom. 2009. http://www.nickbostrom.com/cognitive.pdf (accessed May 23, 2010).