Measure Your Brain's Visual-Spatial IQ

Would you like to test your visual-spatial IQ? Here are some examples of questions you can answer that can help you do so. Take a look at the following figure.

Can you figure out the next shape in the sequence? You may have correctly guessed that the next shape will be a circle. As you're probably aware, this type of test measures how well you can spot the pattern and follow the sequence of objects. Other tests require you to construct a shape out of different colored blocks. A key component in these tasks is that you gain extra points the more quickly you do these tasks.

In timed tests, older people tend to lose points. However, when you remove the timed aspect, older people perform at the same level as younger people. As you get older you may take longer on these tasks because you may have adopted a more methodical approach to problem-solving.

Other tests measure your reasoning skills. Take a look at these statements:

The purpose of these questions is to measure how well you can make associations between two things. First look at the word pair of Bird—Nest. Now look at the next word pair with the missing word: ________?—Kennel. Use the relationship between bird and nest to figure out the word that goes with kennel. Now look at the next word pair: Hammer—Nail. Try to work out what you think their association is and then figure out the correct word to pair with paint can. The correct answer to the former is dog, and for the latter the correct answer is paintbrush.