There are many different kinds of intelligent. Are you book smart? Street smart? Good at school and test-taking smart? Good at schmoozing your way out of deadlines and into jobs smart? Better at writing or math? One new intelligence test, put online today by New Scientist and the Discovery Channel, claims to be the best test of overall smarts. The test was designed by neuropsychologist Adrian Owen to test 12 different "pillars" of wisdom, and to work every part of your mind. From Owen's article about the test for New Scientist:
Like many researchers before us, we began by looking for the smallest number of tests that could cover the broadest range of cognitive skills that are believed to contribute to intelligence, from memory to planning.
But we went one step further. Thanks to recent work with brain scanners, we could make sure that the tests involved as much of the brain as possible – from the outer layers, responsible for higher thought, to deeper-lying structures such as the hippocampus, which is involved in memory.
As an intrepid blogger, I went ahead and took the test. Some of the exercises resembled classic games like "Memory
" (to test paired associates learning, you're asked to remember what items are hidden where) and "Simon
" (to test working memory, you have to remember sequences). Others are more similar to cognitive psychology tests like the Stroop test
(which tests focused attention), and there are also some puzzle-solving tests (to test your ability to plan for the future). The 12 tests are designed to test 12 different aspects of working memory, reasoning, focus, and planning. I did the worst on the "verbal working memory" test, which was reading a string of numbers and typing it in from memory. This actually makes sense, because I've always known myself to be a physical learner, and highlight or write down everything I hear that I need to remember. I wonder if there is a correlation there? You can only take the test once, so make sure to do some mental push-ups first before diving in. Then come back here and tell us what you thought! Also, visit www.cambridgebrainsciences.com
to play additional games, to train your brain, and to test your 12 pillars. Related content: DISCOVER: Teen Genius: 5 Promising Scientists Under 20
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Image: Flickr/B Rosen
