CHC Broad and Narrow Abilities
Fluid Intelligence (Gf): Refers to mental operations that a person uses when presented with a
relatively novel task that cannot be performed automatically. It includes concept formation, problem
solving, reorganizing and transforming.
RG
I
RQ
RP
RE
General Sequential Reasoning; The ability to start with stated rules, premises, or conditions,
and to engage in one or more steps to solve a novel problem (also called deduction)
Induction; The ability to discover the underlying rule, concept, etc. that govern a problem.
Quantitative Reasoning; The ability to inductively and deductively reason with concepts
involving math relations and properties.
Piagetian Reasoning; Seriation, conservation, classification, and other cognitive abilities as
defined by Piage’s developmental theory.
Speed of Reasoning; The Speed in performing reasoning tasks.
Crystallized Intelligence (Gc): Refers to breadth and dept of a person’s general fund of knowledge.
These knowledge stores are acquired through formal school experiences and general life experience.
These stores are primarily language based and include both declarative and procedural knowledge. A
rather unique aspect of Gc not seen in other broad abilities is that it appears to be both a store of
acquired knowledge (e.g., lexical knowledge, general information, information about culture) as well as
a collection of processing abilities (e.g., oral production and fluency, listening ability).
LD
Language Development; General development or understanding of words, sentences, and
paragraphs in spoken language.
VL Lexical Knowledge; The extent of vocabulary in terms of correct word meanings.
LS Listening Ability; The ability to listen and comprehend oral communications.
KO General (verbal) Information; The range of general knowledge.
K2 Information about Culture; Range of cultural knowledge (e.g., music, art)
K1 General Science Information; Range of scientific knowledge (e.g., biology, physics,
engineering, mechanics, electronics).
A5 Geography Achievement; Range of geographic knowledge
CM Communication Ability; The ability to speak in ‘real life’ situations in an adult-like manner.
OP Oral Production and Fluency; More specific or narrow communication skills than reflected
in CA.
MY Grammatical Sensitivity; Knowledge or awareness of the grammatical features of language.
KL Foreign Language Proficiency; Similar to Language Development (LD) but for a foreign
language
LA Foreign Language Aptitude; Rate and ease of learning a new language
Short-Term Memory (Gsm): Refers to the ability to apprehend and hold information in immediate
awareness and then use it within a few seconds.
MS Memory Span; The ability to attend to, and immediately recall elements in the correct order.
WM Working Memory; The ability to temporarily store and perform operations on information
that requires divided attention and the management of limited capacity of short term
memory.
L1 Learning Ability; The ability to understand new information and demonstrate acquisition of
that information.
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Visual Processing (Gv): Refers to the ability to think with visual patterns and stimuli. Includes the
ability to rotate, reverse, and manipulate spatial configurations, and spatial orientation.
SR
Spatial Relations; The ability to perceive and manipulate visual patterns with respect to
objects in space.
MV Visual Memory; The ability to store visual information and recall it later.
CS Closure Speed; The ability to quickly combine disconnected visual information into a
meaningful whole.
CF Flexibility of Closure; The ability to identify a visual pattern embedded within a complex
visual array.
SS Spatial Scanning; The ability to survey a pattern and identify a path through that pattern.
PI
Serial Perceptual Integration; Ability to understand and identify a pictorial or visual pattern
when parts of the pattern are presented rapidly in serially or successive order
LE Length Estimation; Ability to accurately estimate or compare visual lengths and distances
without using measurement instruments
IL
Perceptual Illusions; Ability to resist being affected by perceptual illusions involving
geometric figures
PN Perceptual Alterations; Consistency in the rate of alternating between different visual
perceptions
Vz Visualization; The ability to mentally manipulate objects or patterns.
Im Imagery; Ability to vividly mentally manipulate abstract spatial forms (not clearly defined by
existing research).
Auditory Processing (Ga): Refers to the ability to notice, compare, discriminate, and distinguish
distinct and separate sounds.
PC:A Phonetic Coding-Analysis; The ability to segment larger units of speech into smaller units
PC:S Phonetic Coding-Synthesis; The ability to blend smaller units of speech in to larger units.
US Speech Sound Discrimination; The ability to detect differences in speech sounds under
conditions of little distraction or distortion.
UR Resistance to Auditory Stimulus Distortion; The ability to understand speech that has been
distorted.
UM Memory for Sound Patterns; Ability to retain on a short-term basis auditory events such as
tones, tonal patterns, and voices.
U3 General Sound Discrimination; Ability to discriminate tones, tone patterns, or musical
materials with regard to pitch, intensity, duration, and rhythm.
UK Temporal Tracking; Ability to track auditory temporal events so as to be able to count,
rearrange or anticipate them.
U1/9 Musical Discrimination and Judgment; Ability to discriminate and judge tonal patterns in
music with respect to melodic, harmonic, and expressive aspects (e.g., phrasing, tempo,
intensity variations).
U8 Maintaining and Judging Rhythm; Ability to recognize and maintain a musical or equal time
beat.
U6 Sound-Intensity/Duration Discrimination; Ability to discriminate sound intensities and to be
sensitive to the temporal/rhythmic aspects of tonal patterns.
U5 Sound-Frequency Discrimination; Ability to discriminate frequency attributes (pitch and
timbre) of tones.
UA, UT, UU Hearing and Speech Threshold factors; Ability to hear pitch and varying sounds
over a range of audible frequencies.
UP Absolute Pitch; Ability to perfectly name or identify the pitch of tones.
UL Sound Localization; The ability to localize heard sounds in space.
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Long-term Storage and Retrieval (Glr): Refers to the ability of storing new or previously acquired
information and then fluently retrieving that information.
MA Associative Memory; The ability to recall one part of a previously learned but
unrelated pair of items when the other part is presented.
MM Meaningful Memory; The ability to recall items with a meaningful relation or the items
comprise a meaningful story or connected discourse.
M6 Free Recall Memory; Ability to recall as many unrelated items as possible, in any order, after
a large collection of items is presented.
FA Associational Fluency; Ability to rapidly produce words or phrases associated in meaning
(semantically associated) with a given word or concept.
FE Expressional Fluency; Ability to rapidly think of and organize words or phrases into
meaningful complex ideas under highly general or more specific cueing conditions.
FI
Ideational Fluency; The ability to produce a series of related ideas, words, etc.
NA Naming Facility; Ability to rapidly produce names for concepts when presented with a
pictorial or verbal cue (RAN).
FW Word Fluency; Ability to rapidly produce words that have specific phonemic, structural, or
orthographic characteristics (independent of word meaning).
FF Figural Fluency; The ability to draw examples when given a starting example or description.
FX Figural Flexibility; Ability to quickly change set in order to generate new and different
solutions to figural problems.
SP Sensitivity to Problems; Ability to identify and state practical problems in a given situation
and/or rapidly think of and state various solutions to, and/or consequences of, such problems.
FO Originality/Creativity; Ability to rapidly produce original, clever, or uncommon verbal or
ideational responses to specified tasks.
L1 Learning Abilities; Ability to apprehend newly presented information and to demonstrate
subsequent acquisition of such information.
Processing Speed (Gs): Refers to the ability to fluently and automatically perform cognitive tasks
(mental quickness). Reflect the ability to work quickly over a longer period of time (typically
measured in intervals of 2 to 3 minutes).
P
R9
N
R4
Perceptual Speed; Ability to rapidly search for and compare known visual symbols or
patterns presented side-by side or separated in a visual field.
Rate of Test Taking; Ability to rapidly perform tests that are relatively easy or that require
very simple decisions.
Number Facility; Ability to rapidly and accurately manipulate and deal with numbers, from
elementary skills to advanced skills.
Semantic Processing Speed; Ability to rapidly make decisions that require some encoding
and mental manipulation of stimulus content.
Decision Speed/Reaction Time (Gt): Refers to an individual’s quickness in reacting and making
decisions. Reflects the immediacy with which an individual can react to stimuli or a task (typically
measured in seconds or fractions of seconds).
R1
R2
R7
Simple Reaction Time; Reaction time to the presentation of a single visual or auditory
stimulus.
Choice Reaction Time; Reaction time to one of two or more alternative stimuli, depending on
which alternative is signaled.
Mental Comparison Speed; Reaction time in which the stimuli must be compared for a
particular attribute.
Nampa School District #131
Nampa School District #131