Expanding perspectives on cognition in humans, animals, and machines

•Neuroscience is attacking the problem of cognition with increasing vigor and rigor.•Cognition is poorly defined and serves as a catch-all for any complex brain function.•Diverse approaches from control theory to neurophenomenology are all relevant.•A pluralistic, open-ended approach to cognition is advised.

Over the past decade neuroscience has been attacking the problem of cognition with increasing vigor. Yet, what exactly is cognition, beyond a general signifier of anything seemingly complex the brain does? Here, we briefly review attempts to define, describe, explain, build, enhance and experience cognition. We highlight perspectives including psychology, molecular biology, computation, dynamical systems, machine learning, behavior and phenomenology. This survey of the landscape reveals not a clear target for explanation but a pluralistic and evolving scene with diverse opportunities for grounding future research. We argue that rather than getting to the bottom of it, over the next century, by deconstructing and redefining cognition, neuroscience will and should expand rather than merely reduce our concept of the mind.