Depends what you mean by the mind.
In terms of the conscious, rational mind, this has always understood as being a dimension of the human soul. Therefore earlier generations spoke of the “rational soul.”
While other species, especially those with a brain in the human weight class, have a level of intelligence, none have the rational mind. This comes from the human soul.
We still say psychology (study of the soul) rather than noology (study of the mind) even though the second is actually meant.
ICXC NIKA
To answer the OP question, we must first ask ourselves, what is the soul? The way I approach this question is to recognize that we must first start with the dual nature of reality, namely, that reality consists of both a material and a spiritual aspect that can be viewed in this parallel comparison: material - matter - body vs. spiritual - nous - soul. I prefer the Greek “nous” (as in noology) to “spirit” because of the ambiguous connotations sometimes attached to the word “spirit”.
Nous is manifested as consciousness; thus we have some idea of the degree of its presence by the apparent consciousness it exhibits. All animals are conscious even though it is only easily observed in mammals. I contend that the nous is contained throughout the body. However, the increasing consciousness, hence increasing nous, observed throughout the animal kingdom is directly dependent on increasing cephalization (the complexity of the neuronal circuits in the brain).
What differentiates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom is the “mind”.
The mind, the object of thought, certainly is centered in the brain, so the brain must be an essential part of the mind. Other animals have brains but don’t have minds so the brain, although necessary, is not sufficient. The presence of a mind depends on the uniqueness of the human brain and that uniqueness comes from the part of the brain, the specific neuronal circuitry, that provides the human language instinct. We cannot think without words, at least, I can’t. The mind, then, is an interface between language instinct and the nous.
Memory (and at the age of 80 I am acutely cognizant of this) is an essential feature of the mind. Because the mind has a dual nature, I contend there are two modes of memory, a “material” memory in the brain and a “perceptual” memory in the nous. Material memory stores symbols, words, numbers, and any other informational element and their relationships. Perceptual memory stores concepts, percepts, meanings, qualia, emotions, feelings, and other sensual patterns such as music. And to add symmetry to the direction in which the mind is focused: as the brain is the portal for the senses (tangential insight); the nous is the portal for God’s grace (radial insight). Now the soul.
Each soul is associated with an individual; it acquires identity; it is eternal; it has a form. It’s primary function is as a recipient of grace. As each soul responds or ignores grace’ it either grows or shrinks. We know the health of our soul by the amount of awe, peace and joy in our lives. Unlike pride, pleasure, and self-satisfaction that are temporary rewards, awe, peace and joy are cumulative. With know habitual grace from the awe experienced through the wonder of God’s creation; we know sacramental grace from the peace we experience through piety; and we know actual grace from the joy that comes with the act of giving.
Hence the role of the soul is to utilize grace in the development and growth of our intellect, values, and will in the service of God
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or as section 1705 of
Catechism of the Catholic Church as it appears on the Vatican website states"
"
By virtue of his soul and his spiritual powers of intellect and will, man is endowed with freedom, an 'outstanding manifestation of the divine image.’ "
Yppop
