In “Wise Up," an important issue to acquaint yourself with is cognition, specifically, what it is and how can it be studied. Cognition describes all of the skills necessary for us to successfully function in everyday life. These include areas such as paying attention, remembering what we see or hear, expressing ourselves and understanding what people say, being oriented to our surroundings such that we can travel from place to place, juggling multiple tasks, and reasoning through problems.