Before the district chess final, Kabir is so tense that his thoughts keep jumping about, and he misses simple threats on the board. His friend Dev is so relaxed and drowsy that he too overlooks moves he would usually see. In the PASS model, which of the following statements is true of the functional unit of the brain that both boys are having trouble with?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → An optimal level of it directs a person to the relevant aspects of the problem at hand.
Option (1) It integrates information into a meaningful pattern by perceiving relations among concepts. — Incorrect. This describes simultaneous processing, a part of the coding unit. It works when a person sees how ideas relate, as in Raven's Progressive Matrices. The boys fail earlier than this, because the moves never get their notice.
Option (2) It helps a person remember information serially, so that recall of one item leads to another. — Incorrect. This is successive processing, also a part of coding. It is used when we learn digits, alphabets or multiplication tables in order. The boys are not trying to recall a series; they cannot keep their focus on the board.
Option (3) It is activated after information is processed, and it helps to evaluate possible courses of action. — Incorrect. This describes planning, the third unit. Planning starts only after information has been attended to and processed. Neither boy reaches that stage, since the threats on the board are missed at the start.
Option (4) An optimal level of it directs a person to the relevant aspects of the problem at hand. — Correct. Kabir is over-aroused and Dev is under-aroused, so both show a problem of arousal/attention, the first unit of the PASS model of J.P. Das, Jack Naglieri and Kirby. Too much or too little arousal interferes with attention, while an optimal level focuses a person on the relevant parts of a problem.
NCERT (2026-27): “Planning, Attention-arousal, and Simultaneous-successive (PASS) Model of Intelligence … |