Spatial intelligence involves accurately interpreting and judging a 3D environment, and is used in everyday activities. It comes from the right side of the brain and can be reduced by injuries or strokes. Vision is often associated with spatial intelligence, but other senses can also play a role. Creativity is key, and those with strong spatial perception often excel in the arts, sciences, and sports. Spatial intelligence tests exist and can be improved with practice. Brain injuries and disorders can reduce spatial ability, leading to difficulty with problem solving and determining location.
Spatial intelligence is the ability to draw accurate conclusions from observing a three-dimensional (3D) environment. It involves interpreting and making judgments about the shape, size, movement, and relationships of surrounding objects, as well as the ability to imagine and manipulate 3D models of things that aren’t immediately visible. People use this form of reasoning in many everyday activities, ranging from organizing a room to driving a car. This type of intelligence comes from the right side of the brain, and injuries or strokes to this area can reduce it.
Vision and the other senses
People often discuss vision alongside spatial intelligence, although determining spatial ability and visual acuity are completely separate. Indeed, the other senses can and do play a role in spatial intelligence. For example, a blind person can still identify a three-dimensional shape by touch or interpret the distance and direction of a moving vehicle by listening for changes in the sound it makes. Although humans rely heavily on vision when using spatial abilities, a person may have perfect vision but poor spatial intelligence, or vice versa.
Creativity
The ability to hold the shape of something in the mind’s eye and to imagine it from different perspectives is the key to this type of intelligence. This requires imagination and creativity. Spatial intelligence lets someone know where they are in relation to other objects or places and heavily affects a person’s ability to follow a map. The mind must be able to take an abstract two-dimensional image and interpret it in relation to a three-dimensional environment. It also involves the ability to anticipate the path and speed of moving objects, as is necessary when catching a baseball or crossing a busy street.
Practical applications
A person who enjoys imagining the world from an observer’s point of view – who perhaps often does so even without thinking – is likely to have greater spatial intelligence than someone who finds it difficult to think about life in this way. Higher visual spatial intelligences come from unique abilities to assume different positions in the mind’s eye, such as a fly on the wall or a person standing behind a curtain. Those who do well in this area are usually successful in the arts or sciences, as well as some sports. Artists, architects, physicists, navigators, chess players and golfers are some of the vocations in which people with high spatial intelligences often excel.
Those with strong spatial perception may appreciate art, rarely get lost, imagine things very vividly, use metaphors, and “look at the big picture” when solving problems. These people are often referred to as visual learners and often possess “photographic” memories, retaining images more readily than words or numbers. They think in pictures and prefer to have pictorial accompaniment to any verbal instruction.
Test and improve spatial acuity
There are many different spatial intelligence tests to determine a person’s strength in this area. These tests can be administered on their own or as part of a larger intelligence test, which can also be part of some job interview processes. There are several ways to strengthen this type of intelligence, including using puzzles and brain games that focus on mapping and viewing scenarios. Some common hobs are also believed to be useful such as still and video photography, flying airplanes, and geo-caching. While some people are naturally gifted in this area, almost anyone can improve with dedicated practice.
Brain injuries and disorders
Any damage to the right side of the brain, such as an injury caused by something hitting the head with great force or a stroke, clot, or aneurysm that interferes with blood flow to this area, can reduce this type of ability. Dementia resulting from Alzheimer’s disease can produce similar results in some patients; some types of brain surgery can also put a patient at risk of losing some level of spatial intelligence. When this happens, the victim or patient often has difficulty determining or remembering where they are, and may also become less adept at problem solving in general. In some cases, partial or full capacity can be recovered over time, but in others the loss of capacity will be permanent.
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