Attention is the central basic component for a variety of processes, such as perception, memory and problem-solving ability, and thus represents one of the most important prerequisites for all types of cognitive performance.

Memory skills serve to retain, organize and, if necessary, retrieve recorded information. Memory disorders often occur in a highly specific way, for example only in long-term memory or only when calling up verbal information.

Executive functions play a decisive role in steering action, i.e. in anticipating, planning and executing an action in a targeted manner. In everyday life, executive functions are needed above all in complex situations, such as driving a car or doing sports.

Social cognition is the ability to understand fellow human beings and to put oneself in their place. It develops in childhood, but can also be impaired in adulthood by various psychological disorders and after neurological diseases.

Spatial processing means being able to imagine objects in a three-dimensional space and move them in front of the inner eye, for example by mental rotation. This is not only important in many technical professions, but also in everyday life, for example when orienting yourself in unknown environments.

Through speech processing, people are able to understand and speak language. Disruptions in this processing can severely impair the independence of people from verbal communication to simple tasks such as writing shopping lists.

Processing speed describes how quickly information from the environment is understood in a meaningful way. Processing speed decreases with age, but can also be slower in a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

In critical situations, such as when crossing an intersection, it is important both to get a quick overview of potential dangers and to react adequately to them so as not to endanger oneself or others.

Sensomotorics is the interplay of visual information and motor actions that enables targeted movements. This ability enables everyday activities such as cooking or sewing, right up to controlling heavy machines.

Clinical-psychological symptoms often occur in connection with and interact with organic damage, for example, depressive symptoms can occur in response to organic damage. Their recording is therefore an important part both for the diagnosis of disorders and for deriving rehabilitation measures.

In clinical-psychological everyday life, subjective performance and the validation of symptoms can provide important additional information. The subjective performance capacity can be useful for the derivation of measures, especially if it deviates from objective assessments, whereas the symptom validation is often used in an expert opinion context if there is a considerable secondary disease gain for patients.