| attention | The identification and selection of particular sensory input for more detailed processing.
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| autobiographical memory | A collection of memories of things that have happened to a person at a specific time or place.
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| automatization | The process of transforming conscious, controlled behaviors into unconscious and automatic ones.
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| cognitive map | A mental representation of the spatial layout of a physical or geographic place.
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| cognitive processes | Ways that the human mental system operates on information.
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| connectionist models | Information processing approaches that describe mental processes in terms of the interconnections of the neural network.
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| deductive reasoning | Logical thinking that involves reaching a necessary and valid conclusion based on a set of premises.
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| elaboration | A memory strategy in which one adds to information to make it more meaningful and thus easier to remember.
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| encoding | The transformation of information from the environment into a mental representation.
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| episodic memory | Memory for specific events, often autobiographical in nature.
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| executive control process | A cognitive process that serves to control, guide, and monitor the success of a problem-solving approach a child uses.
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| executive control structure | According to Case, a mental blueprint or plan for solving a class of problems.
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| generalization | The application of a strategy learned while solving a problem in one situation to a similar problem in a new situation.
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| hierarchical categorization | The organization of concepts into levels of abstraction that range from the specific to the general.
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| Information-processing approaches | Theories of development that focus on the flow of information through the child's cognitive system and particularly on the specific operations the child performs between input and output phases.
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| long-term memory | The mental processing unit in which information may be stored permanently and from which it may later be retrieved.
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| mediational deficiency | Inability to use strategies to store information in long-term memory.
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| memory span | The amount of information one can hold in short-term memory.
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| mental representation | Information stored mentally in some form (e.g., verbal, pictorial, procedural).
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| metacognition | The individual's knowledge about knowing and his control of cognitive activities.
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| microgenetic analysis | A very detailed examination of how a child solves a problem.
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| multistore model | A model of information processing in which information moves through a series of organized processing units—sensory register, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
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| narrative form | A temporally sequenced account that conveys meaning about an event.
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| neo-Piagetian theories | Theories of cognitive development that reinterpret Piaget's concepts from an information-processing perspective.
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| organization | Combining simple mental structures into more complex systems, a term used by Piaget or also refers to a memory strategy that involves putting together in some organized form the information to be remembered; usually entails categorization and hierarchical relations.
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| planning | The deliberate organization of a sequence of actions oriented toward achieving a goal.
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| problem solving | The identification of a goal and of steps to reach that goal.
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| production deficiency | Inability to generate and use a known memory strategies spontaneously.
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| propositional reasoning | Logical thinking that involves evaluating a statement or series of statements based on the information in the statement alone.
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| rehearsal | A memory strategy in which one repeats a number of times the information one wants to remember, either mentally or orally.
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| script | A mental representation of an event or situation of daily life, including the order in which things are expected to happen and how one should behave in that event or situation.
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| selective attention | A strategy in which one focuses on some features of the environment and ignores others.
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| semantic memory | All the world knowledge and facts a person possesses.
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| sensory register | The mental processing unit that takes information from the environment and stores it in original form for brief periods of time.
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| short-term, or working, memory | The mental processing unit in which information is stored temporarily; the "work space" of the mind, where a decision is made to discard information, work on it, or transfer it to permanent storage in long-term memory.
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| strategies | Conscious cognitive or behavioral activities used to enhance mental performance.
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| transitive inference | The mental arrangement of things along a quantitative dimension.
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| utilization deficiency | Inability to use a known memory strategy or to benefit from the use of such a memory strategy.
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| world knowledge | What a child has learned from experience and knows about the world in general.
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