higher mental processes

n. Complex psychological abilities mediated by the cerebral cortex, particularly the prefrontal cortex, involved in complex cognition, such as reasoning, problem solving, thinking, decision making, and self-awareness. They are implicitly contrasted with “lower mental functions,” such as sensations. Different names have been used throughout history to refer to these complex psychological functions: higher mental functions, psychological functions, higher psychological processes, complex cognition, and the like. These abilities roughly correspond to contemporary executive functions. Two different dimensions have been emphasized in higher mental processes: (1) the biological/neurological dimension: higher mental processes depend upon a certain level of brain evolution, in particular, the enlargement of the frontal lobes; they appear in the child correlated with the brain maturation, in particular, the maturation of the frontal lobes. (2) Some researchers, especially Vygotsky, have emphasized the social/cultural dimension of the higher mental processes. Vygotsky emphasized that an intrinsic factor in the organization of higher forms of cognition (higher mental processes) is the engagement of external elements (e.g., representing spoken language in writing, representing the environmental space in a map, using external devices in arithmetical operations). According to Vygotsky, higher mental processes are social in origin and complex and hierarchical in their structure.

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► See also EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS