Understanding Visual-Spatial Intelligence: Master the Art of Thinking in 3D and Creative Visualization

Intelligence is the most contentious subject in human psychology. Firstly, what is intelligence itself? How does it manifest? And how can it be tested, if at all? 

Is it entirely innate, or is it a muscle that can be improved with exercise and concerted effort?

This caution is not without reason. Knowing how intelligence works can be beneficial in hacking mental development, which goes to the core of our human identity. If the knowledge is misused, the effects can be quite far-reaching. This is why there have always been ethical questions and hesitation surrounding IQ science and assessment.

In light of these concerns, in 1983, Howard Gardner, a psychologist at Harvard, introduced the theory of multiple intelligences in his book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. He suggested that all definitions until that point were too narrow and proposed that human intelligence manifests in different ways—the 9 types of intelligence. 

According to Gardner, to correctly assess intelligence, we must consider that everyone manifests intelligence in varying ways. While some could be rockstars at Mathematics (logical-mathematical), some could be wizards of the visual arts (visual-spatial), others could be Beethovens and Mozarts (musical), and yet others could be great at sports (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence).

In this article, we’ll be focusing on visual-spatial intelligence—what it is, how it manifests, how it relates to other types of intelligence, and how you can recognize it in yourself or others.

What Is Visual-Spatial Intelligence?

Visual-spatial intelligence, often referred to as being "picture smart," is one of Gardner’s multiple types of intelligence. It involves the ability to think in 3D, visualizing and understanding one’s immediate environment with depth and dimension. Visual-spatial processing skills allow individuals to perceive, analyze, and manipulate the world around them using creative visualization techniques. 

People who are "picture smart" can mentally manipulate shapes and colors, making them highly adept at creating and appreciating visual art, solving complex puzzles, and excelling in tasks that require spatial awareness, like assembling IKEA furniture.

If you think this is you, you would likely excel as a painter, sculptor, civil engineer, architect, or in any career path that involves big-picture thinking and the ability to creatively visualize complex scenarios. These careers align closely with John Holland’s Artistic and Realistic career types, which emphasize creativity, design, and hands-on problem-solving.  

Traits of Visual-Spatial Intelligence

So, how can you know whether you may be high on the visual-spatial intelligence scale? Well, there are many psychoeducational tests out there that can give some insight into your visual-spatial abilities. 

However, before it even gets to all of that, some traits are usually associated with visual-spatial intelligence, which, if you observe in yourself, can suggest high visual-spatial intelligence, pending a definitive test. In this section, we will discuss some of those characteristics:

Appreciation of the Visual Arts

As mentioned earlier, people in this intelligence class tend to greatly enjoy the visual arts - paintings, sculpture, architecture, and even the more modern ones like comic books. They also tend to have some passion for creating these artworks.

Vivid Imagination

Have you ever seen a kid who seems to have a keen interest in drawing up intricate scenarios in their mind - what is typically called vivid imagination? This is another trait of visual-spatial intelligence.

While other people may need to draw out scenarios on paper, people with high visual-spatial intelligence can go from point A, through a convoluted thought process, to point B, just using their minds.

Pattern Recognition

It follows that people who can draw up intricate scenarios in their heads can recall visual details with little problem after observing them for a short while. This is because they typically have high visual ability and are visual-spatial learners.

Puzzle Aficionados

Remember that dude in your high school class who was the go-to for any visual puzzles that have confounded everyone else? He probably has a lot of visual-spatial intelligence.

Jigsaws, sudoku, and even the Rubik’s cube are all examples of puzzles that people in this class typically excel at due to their ability to deploy their visual-spatial skills to visualize complicated scenarios in their minds.

Direction and Navigation

Have you ever wondered whether the success of F1 greats like Schumacher and Hamilton is due to their intelligence or the excellence of the vehicles they race in?

Well, while the cars are great, too, visual-spatial intelligence is why they are at the top of their game. They typically have a very high awareness of their spatial environment.

People in this class with high visual-spatial skills are better at understanding distance and proportions, which makes them great at navigation. They also probably don’t forget directions easily.

Notable People With High Visual-Spatial Ability

As you would expect, due to the traits associated with visual-spatial intelligence, many people across the ages have been able to bring some of the wildest imaginations to life and, in doing that, made themselves very notable. Let's discuss 3 of them:

Leonardo da Vinci

The Mona Lisa sits in The Louvre in France, where it receives an estimated 10 million visitors every year, 521 years after Leonardo da Vinci created the painting. 

The Last Supper and about twenty other paintings are an eternal testament to what a mind with a lot of visual-spatial intelligence can achieve. Da Vinci also envisioned an airplane and other remarkable engineering feats, long before their time.

Galileo Galilei

Galileo is another very famous name from the Renaissance period. He spent his days observing our solar system, during which he discovered the planet Neptune and the four moons of Jupiter. 

Based on his findings, he firmly supported Copernicus’ theory about our solar system, which has become the basic fact today - that all the planets revolve around the sun.

Is there any manifestation of spatial intelligence that can surpass being able to visualize how our solar system works from the corner of 17th-century Florence, with the limited technology of the time?

His work laid the foundation for today’s space probes and telescopes, which is why he is now widely regarded as the father of modern astronomy.

Gustav Eiffel

While you may not be familiar with the name (at least, relative to Galileo or Leonardo), you definitely know the Eiffel Tower. Well, it was named after Gustav, the French civil engineer who designed it.

In a time when engineering was nowhere near as advanced as it is today, Gustav, armed with high spatial intelligence, conceptualized and built the iconic tower, which was the tallest building at the time, holding that title from 1889 until 1931, when the Empire State Building was completed.

Like that wasn’t enough, he also contributed significantly to designing the Statue of Liberty, amongst many other notable architecture at the time.

How to Test for Visual-Spatial Intelligence

If you think that you or a child that you’re responsible for probably would score high on the scale for visual-spatial intelligence, you may want first to self-evaluate to see how well you or the child can do at some of the things that are typically associated with this type of intelligence. These might include solving puzzles, navigating maps, assembling objects, or creating and interpreting visual art.

Going a step further, you can explore various online tests designed to assess Gardner’s multiple intelligences. While these tests are not standardized and lack scientific validation, they can offer some preliminary insights into your spatial intelligence. Additionally, there are online IQ tests that include sections assessing spatial abilities. However, it's important to approach these online assessments with caution, as their reliability and accuracy may vary.

Finally, if you want more official results, you could take a professionally administered intelligence test, for example, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale, which has specific subtests designed to assess visual-spatial intelligence. 

Can You Improve Spatial Intelligence? Is Visual Spatial Learning a Myth?

There has yet to be a consensus on whether anyone can significantly improve their visual-spatial intelligence. 

Since it is mostly determined by genetics and influenced by the environment in which one was raised and lives, scientists argue that visual-spatial intelligence cannot be consequentially improved.

This is especially true when you consider that people with low visual-spatial intelligence typically have a natural compensation in any of the multiple intelligences—logical-mathematical or bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, for example.

However, like a muscle, spatial ability can be exercised and honed. All you would have to do is engage more frequently in actions that involve visual-spatial tasks and engage the part of your brain that coordinates spatial reasoning - solving puzzles, getting familiar with the Rubik’s cube, and playing video games that involve understanding maps, including fantasy games.

Connection Between Visual-Spatial Intelligence and Gardner's Other Intelligences 

Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences identifies various ways in which people excel. Here, we explore how each of the eight other types of intelligence can connect to or differ from visual-spatial intelligence.

Connecting Visual Spatial Intelligence to Linguistic Intelligence

While linguistic intelligence involves a strong command of language and words, it can intersect with visual-spatial intelligence through the use of spatial language and visual imagery in storytelling and writing. Authors often create vivid mental images and describe spatial relationships to enhance their narratives, bridging the gap between word recognition and visual information processing.

Connecting Visual Spatial Intelligence to Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

Logical-mathematical intelligence relies heavily on recognizing patterns and solving problems, skills that are closely related to visual-spatial intelligence. Individuals with strong logical-mathematical abilities often use spatial judgment and mental rotation to solve complex mathematical problems, visualize multi-digit numbers, and understand spatial relations.

Connecting Visual Spatial Intelligence to Musical Intelligence

Musical intelligence, while primarily auditory, can connect to visual-spatial intelligence through the visualization of musical patterns and the spatial arrangement of musical notes. Musicians might use mental images to remember sequences and understand the spatial relations of notes on a musical instrument, blending auditory information with spatial awareness.

Connecting Visual Spatial Intelligence to Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

Those with bodily-kinesthetic intelligence have exceptional motor control and spatial awareness, which are crucial for physical activities. This intelligence type often involves visualizing movements and understanding directions in space, linking closely to visual-spatial intelligence. Athletes and dancers use spatial relationships and internal movement visualization to perfect their techniques.

Connecting Visual Spatial Intelligence to Interpersonal Intelligence

Interpersonal intelligence involves understanding and interacting with others, which can be enhanced by visual-spatial skills. Recognizing patterns in social interactions, interpreting body language, and navigating social spaces all require a good sense of spatial awareness and visual information processing.

Connecting Visual-Spatial Intelligence to Intrapersonal Intelligence

Intrapersonal intelligence focuses on self-reflection and understanding one's own emotions. Visualization techniques and creating mental images can aid in self-reflection, connecting this intelligence type to visual-spatial intelligence. Individuals might use spatial metaphors to describe their emotional states and internal experiences.

Connecting Visual-Spatial Intelligence to Naturalistic Intelligence 

Naturalistic intelligence involves recognizing patterns in nature and understanding the natural world. This intelligence type benefits from visual-spatial skills for identifying spatial relationships in nature, visualizing ecosystems, and understanding spatial arrangements in the environment, such as the layout of a forest or garden.

Connecting Visual-Spatial Intelligence to Existential Intelligence

Existential intelligence, which involves pondering deep questions about human existence, can connect to visual-spatial intelligence through the visualization of abstract concepts and the use of spatial metaphors. Philosophers might use visual imagery to explore and communicate their ideas about the meaning of life and the human condition. 

Visual-Spatial Intelligence is Just One Cog in the Wheel of Intelligence

It is always worth mentioning that intelligence testing is not an exact science, at least not on the same level as mathematics or physics. It is simply an attempt to understand how visual-spatial intelligence works.

Also, as mentioned earlier, according to Gardner's theory, visual-spatial intelligence is only one of the nine possible types of intelligence. So, if you don’t score high enough to be considered spatially intelligent, that does not mean that you are of below-average intelligence or won't be successful. Instead, it may just mean that your strength is in any other one of the nine multiple intelligences, like bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. You would only need to lean into learning styles that work for you. 

However, if you would like to improve your visual-spatial ability, you can always try mental exercises that will help you stretch that muscle and practice spatial reasoning, as we have described. 

Even though you may not necessarily be able to improve your intelligence in visual-spatial aspects significantly, you can always make the best of what you already have.