Cold cognition is the use of logical and rational thinking in cognitive processing. Decision making with cold cognition is more likely to involve logic and critical analysis as opposed to hot cognition which employs emotional influence on decision making. Therefore, when an individual engages in a task when displaying cold cognition, the stimuli is likely to be emotionally neutral and the "outcome of the test is not motivationally relevant" to the individual. An example of a critical decision using cold cognition would be concentrating on the evidence before drawing a conclusion.
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Development and neuroanatomy
Performance on hot and cold tasks improves most rapidly during the preschool years, but continues into adolescence. This co-occurs with both structural and functional development associated with the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Hot cognition overpowers cold cognition during the early years in life as people strive to satisfy their needs and impulses without considering the consequences of actions beyond immediate satisfaction. As the PFC and hippocampal region develops, cold cognition begins to dominate in various situations. Specific areas within the PFC are thought to be associated with both hot and cold cognition. Cold cognition is thought to be associated with executive functions elicited by abstract, deconceptualized tasks, such as card sorting. The area of the brain that is utilized for these tasks is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DL-PFC). It is between the ages of 3 years and 5 years that the most significant change in task completion is seen. As the PFC and hippocampal region develops, cold responses which require higher level thinking begin to occur and overpower the hot cognitions. Age-related trends have been observed in tasks used to measure hot cognition, as well as cold cognition. However, the age at which children reach adult-like functioning varies. Further research done on these neurological areas suggests there may be some plasticity during the development of both hot and cold cognition. While the preschool years are ones of extreme sensitivity to the development of prefrontal cortex, a similar period is found in the transition into adolescence. This gives rise to the idea that there may be a possible time window for intervention training, which would improve cognitive abilities and executive functioning in children and adolescents. Hot cognition has been found to overpower cold cognition in certain situations even after both systems have fully developed. These are addressed in the Hot Cognition page.
Assessment
The cool tasks are neutrally affective and measure executive function abilities such as cognitive flexibility and working memory. In other words, there is nothing to be gained or lost by performing these tasks. The hot tasks also measure executive function, but these tasks result in emotionally significant consequences.
Self Ordered Pointing: In this task an array of items is presented to participants. The position of these items then randomly changes from trial to trial. Participants are instructed to point to one of these items, but then asked to not point to that same item again. In order to perform well on this task, participants must remember what item they pointed to and use this information to decide on subsequent responses.
Wisconsin Card Sort Task (WCST): The Wisconsin Card Sort Task requires participants to sort stimulus cards that differ in dimensions (shape, colour, or number). However, they are not told how to sort them. The only feedback they receive is whether or not a match is correct. Participants must discover the rule according to dimension. Once the participant matches a certain number of correct cards, the dimension changes and they must rediscover the new rule. This requires participants to remember the rule they were using and cognitively change the rule by which they use to sort.
Dimensional Change Card Sort Task (DCCS): Participants are required to sort stimulus cards based on either shape or colour. They are first instructed to sort based on one dimension (colour) in a trial, and then it switches to the other (shape) in the following trial. "Switch" trials are also used where the participant must change back and forth between rules within a single trial. Unlike the WCST, the rule is explicitly stated and does not have to be inferred. The task measures how flexible participants are to changing rules. This requires participants to shift between dimensions of sorting.