Table 1.
Descriptive Overview of the Broad and Narrow Cognitive Domains Constituting the CHC-M Taxonomy.
| Broad cognitive domain | Narrow cognitive domain | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fluid reasoning (Gf) | Deliberate but flexible control of attention to solve novel “on the spot” problems that cannot be performed by relying exclusively on previously learned habits, schemas, and scripts | Abstract reasoning | Ability to recognize (induct) and apply logical rules that govern sequence changes in abstract stimuli. Induction (I) and Sequential reasoning are defining features of Gf tasks |
| Verbal reasoning | Ability to understand and evaluate the logic of various verbal arguments; reasoning with verbal material and knowledge acquired previously | ||
| Long-term memory and retrieval (Glr) | The ability to store, consolidate, and retrieve information over periods of time measured in minutes, hours, days, and years | Learning/encoding efficiency (Gl) | Ability for efficient learning of new information that is held over longer periods than what is typical of STM (Gsm) tasks |
| Retrieval fluency (Gr) | The ability to rapidly access and recall information previously stored in long-term memory | ||
| General STM (Gsm) | The ability to encode, maintain, and manipulate information in one’s immediate awareness and includes memory span and working memory. The working memory literature distinguishes between single-task coordination (e.g., manipulation of one stream of stimuli in memory for retrieval) and multitask coordination (e.g., of two or more streams of information) | HWM | Multitask coordination: Manipulation/processing of multiple streams of information for a coordinated response. Can entail inhibition of one or more streamsEntails both processing and storage of multiple sources of information |
| LWM | Entails a manipulation that is more cognitively complex than STM processes, but less complex than updating and HWM. Entails both processing and storage of a single (rather than multiple) source of information (e.g., recall a list in some specified order) other than how it was presented (e.g., in reverse order) | ||
| STM | The ability to encode information, maintain it in immediate awareness (e.g., in primary memory), and immediately reproduce the information in the same sequence which it was presented | ||
| EF* | High-level cognitive processes, often associated with the frontal lobes that control lower level processes in the service of goal-directed behavior | Updating | The active process of monitoring incoming information and “updating” items held in working memory by replacing irrelevant information with task-relevant information |
| Shifting | Shifting between mental sets or operations by disengaging from an irrelevant mental set and actively engaging in a set relevant to the current task | ||
| Inhibition | Active and deliberate overriding of a dominant or automatic response in order to complete a task | ||
| Processing speed (Gs) | The ability to perform simple repetitive cognitive tasks quickly and fluently | Perceptual speed | The speed at which visual stimuli can be compared for similarity or difference |
| Visual processing (Gv) | The ability to make use of simulated mental imagery (often in conjunction with currently perceived images) to solve problems | Sensory perception | The efficiency of primary senses to process and provide information, picked up through primary senses (typically vision), necessary for task completion |
| Visual perception | The ability to perceive complex patterns and mentally simulate how they might look when transformed (e.g., rotated, changed in size, partially obscured). It is central to Gv (like induction is central to Gf) |
Note. Adapted from Webb et al. (2018). *EF definition from Friedman & Miyake (2017). EF = executive function; HWM = high-working memory; STM = short-term memory; LWM = low-working memory.