I sometimes hear the term cognitive neural networks thrown around.
What does the word "cognitive" specify when discussing a neural network?
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_network
Since neural systems are intimately related to cognitive processes and behaviour, the field is closely related to cognitive and behavioural modeling.
Is "cognitive" basically a buzzword add-on to neural network?
It means the processes of thought in the human brain. The quoted sentence is saying that the study of neural networks is related to the study of human brains and animal behaviours.
For example, neural network research has generated some possible explanations for why humans need to sleep - because some types of neural networks also need to sleep. Many neural network designs (indeed, the whole concept of a neural network) are also based on animal brains work.
