Mental processes, mental functions and cognitive processes are terms often used interchangeably (although not always correctly so, the term cognitive tends to have specific implications – see cognitive and cognitivism) to mean such functions or processes as perception, introspection, memory, creativity, imagination, conception, belief, reasoning, volition, and emotion—in other words, all the different things that we can do with our minds.
A specific instance of engaging in a cognitive process is a mental event. The event of perceiving something is, of course, different from the entire process, or faculty, of perception—one's ability to perceive things. In other words, an instance of perceiving is different from the ability that makes those instances possible.
Famous quotes related to mental process:
“For the child whose impulsiveness is indulged, who retains his primitive-discharge mechanisms, is not only an ill-behaved child but a child whose intellectual development is slowed down. No matter how well he is endowed intellectually, if direct action and immediate gratification are the guiding principles of his behavior, there will be less incentive to develop the higher mental processes, to reason, to employ the imagination creatively. . . .”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)