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Thinking Areas

What are thinking areas? And what kinds of things impact the functioning of these thinking areas? Here we provide a little more information about what me mean when we say, "thinking areas", what in life impacts their functioning, and how that all can factor into your diagnosis. 

"Thinking areas" is a general way to refer to neurocognitive domains. These domains are a way to categorize major aspects of the brain's functioning. Generally speaking, you can categorize neurocognitive functioning into 6 domains: perceptual-motor function, language, learning and memory, social cognition, complex attention, and executive function. Each of these neurocognitive domains can be further divided into subdomains that address specific aspects of the primary domain. 

Executive Function

  • Planning

  • Decision-making

  • Working memory

  • Flexibility

  • Inhibition

Learning and Memory

  • Recall

  • Recognition memory

  • Long-term memory

  • Implicit learning

Complex Attention

  • Sustained attention

  • Divided attention

  • Selective attention

  • Processing speed

Language

  • Object naming

  • Word finding

  • Fluency

  • Receptive language

Social Cognition

  • Recognition of emotions

  • Insight

Perceptual-Motor Function

  • Visual perception

  • Visuospatial reasoning

  • Perceptual-motor coordination 

Executive Function

Executive functions are higher-level cognitive skills like planning, problem solving, multi-tasking, and time management. Included are things like flexibility (adapting to change), inhibition control (controlling your thoughts, feelings, and focus), and working memory (integration of new information). These functions help manage information and regulate our emotions and motivation. 

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Learning and Memory

Learning and memory are inextricable; memory is the ability to retain information of past experiences and learning is the process by which we acquire memory. There are several different types of memory, including some are or are not accessible to our consciousness, some for facts vs. skills, and some for life events. Many different brain areas are involved in learning and memory.

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Language

Language is how we communicate with written or spoken words. Included within language functions are both speech and comprehension, or the ability to produce and understand language.

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Complex Attention

Attention can be generalized as an ability to maintain focus, choosing what to attend to and what to ignore. There are several different types of attention, including selective attention (concentrating on the task at hand while ignoring distractions), sustained attention (concentrating on something for an extended period of time), and divided attention (performing several tasks at once, like multitasking). Complex attention also includes processing speeding, or how quickly we can think. 

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Perceptual-Motor Function

Perceptual-motor function refers to how we interact with our environment. This includes our ability to perceive our environment via our senses and our ability to interact with our environment via coordinated motor movements. Perceptual-motor function includes processing visual and spatial information and translating that into an appropriate and effective motor response. Hand-eye and body-eye coordination are part of perceptual-motor function. 

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Social Cognition

Very generally speaking, social cognition refers to our ability to perceive and understand social signals. This includes our perception of others' social behaviors (like body language), our ability to understand that behavior to determine others' mental states and emotions, and the process of responding in an appropriate way. Social cognition also includes our filter between our internal thoughts and feelings and our external actions. 

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