These statements tell us some important things about what the mind is. Statements
1, 2, and 3, which highlight the mind’s role in memory, problem solving, and making
decisions, are related to the following defi nition of the mind: The mind creates and
controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language,
deciding, thinking, and reasoning. This defi nition refl ects the mind’s central role in
determining our various mental abilities, which are refl ected in the titles of the chapters
in this book.