I think a definition of 'cognition' at the hardware level (wet matter brain) would depend on a conjectured model of 'consciousness' to distinguish it from the m

I think a definition of 'cognition' at the hardware level (wet matter brain) would depend on a conjectured model of 'consciousness' to distinguish it from the more clearly definable 'sensing'. A simple model of (higher) consciousness could be that it is simply the 'state of the brain'. Sensation would be an almost axiomatic as the 'pattern of state change for specific stimuli' whereas 'thought' is 'pattern of state change invariant of stimuli'. Cognition could then be defined as 'sensation that [evokes] thought'.