This chapter discusses cognition, or the process of thinking, and its role in problem solving and decision making. Thinking involves language, imagery, reflection, conceptualization, evaluation, and insight, among other functions. Thus, in addition to the retrieval and processing of information from memory, cognition requires the manipulation of information in various ways.

Psychologists such as George Miller and Ulric Neisser were among the first cognitive psychologists. Their use of computer programs that mimic cognitive processes is called computer simulation.