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Please advise, is this where I go for help? I am an enthusiastic neophyte in CogSci and need some clarification. Are the terms "cognitive states" and "mental states" interchangeable? Or is the former concerned with thinking and understanding and mental state more to do with emotions , feelings and motivation? Or is a cognitive state one of a number of possible mental states? Daphne

The swiki environment is very unstructured, what that means is you should feel comfortable to add or change anything you like (Within reason of not purposely destroying others comments of course). So you can create a seperate page for questions if you like, or ask them here, or any other method you want :) I'll find it and answer it :)

Now to your question... Can you tell me what context you saw the two terms cognitive states and mental states used? I dont think there is a difference between them but it may depend on how they are being used, if you give me page numbers in readings or something I'll have a look at it to make sure. One difference maybe that mental states are shorter term cognitive states and cognitive states are longer term brain strategies or thoughts. But, again, it depends on the context its used I believe. Marty