cognitive process
any of the mental functions assumed to be involved in the acquisition, storage, interpretation, manipulation, transformation, and use of knowledge. These processes encompass such activities as attention, perception, learning, and problem solving and are commonly understood through several basic theories, including the serial processing approach, the parallel processing approach, and a combination theory, which assumes that cognitive processes are both serial and parallel, depending on the demands of the task. This term is often used synonymously with mental process.