Broadening Cognitive Science in Nigeria: Foundation for a New Discipline

Abstract

Cognitive science has matured into an established discipline, and its development has advanced our understanding of the human brain and cognitive processes. Despite these advancements and popularity, the limited established norms in the field have been in favor of cognitive universals, which is the idea that cognitive processes are consistent and shared across all humans irrespective of their sociocultural or environmental variations. This has limited the chances of improving and understanding variations in cognitive development, particularly among individuals from the majority of the world's population, and may have increased oversight into the unique characteristics of cognitive adaptations shaped by sociocultural and environmental factors. The objective of this paper is to draw insights from a 2-day workshop organized on broadening cognitive science in Nigeria. Inspired by the discussions from the workshop, we identified critical challenges and opportunities at the researcher, participant, and process levels, offering practical strategies for advancing cognitive science in underrepresented regions. We discussed the challenges facing cognitive science research and strategies to solve these challenges in Nigeria, particularly focusing on emerging themes from our workshop. We then discussed pathways for future directions and concluded with final thoughts.