PASS Theory of Intelligence

The PASS theory of intelligence, an acronym for Planning, Attention-Arousal, Simultaneous and Successive processing, is a model of cognitive functioning first proposed in 1975 by J.P. Das, John Kirby and Ronald Jarman and later elaborated by Das, Jack Naglieri and Kirby in 1994. It challenges the older idea of a single general intelligence, or g-theory, on the grounds that the brain is made up of interdependent but separate functional systems, a claim it draws on neuroimaging studies and clinical studies of individuals with brain lesions to support, since damage to one area of the brain can impair the production of spoken and written language while leaving comprehension intact, and damage to an adjacent area can produce the opposite pattern. The theory itself builds on the earlier psychological work of the neuropsychologist A. R. Luria and identifies three operational units important to mental functioning: attention, simultaneous and successive processing, and planning. In education, the PASS theory offers an alternative approach to measuring and studying intelligence, treating it as a set of distinct cognitive processes rather than as a single general ability a learner either has more or less of.