Spatial intelligence
Encyclopedia
Spatial Intelligence is an area in the theory of multiple intelligences
that deals with spatial judgment and the ability to visualize with the mind's eye. It is defined by Howard Gardner
as a human computational capacity that provides the ability or mental skill to solve spatial problems of navigation
, visualization of objects from different angles and space
, faces or scenes recognition or to notice fine details. Gardner further explains that Spatial Intelligence could be more effective to solve problems in areas related to realistic, thing-oriented, artistic and investigative occupations. This capability is a brain skill that is also found in people with visual impairment. As researched by Gardner, a blind person can recognize shapes by a non visual way. The spatial reasoning of the blind person allows them to translate tactile sensations into mental calculation of length and visualisation of form.
is one of the seven intelligences on Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
, each of which is composed of a number of separate sub capacities. An intelligence provides the ability to solve problem or create products that are valued in a particular culture. Each intelligence is a neurally based computational system that is activated by internal or external information. Intelligences are always an interaction between biological proclivities and the opportunities for learning that exist in a culture. The application of this theory in the general practice covers a product range from scientific theories to musical compositions to successful political campaigns. Gardner suggested a general correspondence between each capability with an occupational role at the workplace, for examples: for those individuals with linguistic
intelligence he pointed journalists, speakers and trainers; scientist, engineers, financiers and accountants on logical-mathematical
intelligence; sales people, managers, teachers and counselors on the personal
intelligence; athletes, contractors and actors on bodily-kinesthetic
intelligence; taxonomists, ecologist and veterinarians on naturalistic
intelligence; clergy and philosophers on existential
intelligence and designers, architects and taxi drivers on spatial
intelligence.
and Andrea Frick apply the concept of spatial intelligence to the educational realm. Newcombe and Frick approached the concept in different ways:
and design
. His first assumption relates to the origin of architecture in the human computational capacity to organize themselves spatially; based on people's own ideas about space, histories in space and communal mental space; all has been a combination that has evolved into society over millennia. Van Schaik explains how spatial intelligence works and how it is linked to the way individuals assess their surroundings. His comments are based on the research done by Roger Penrose
, Shadows of the Mind
. The awareness of what happens around someone comes from cells in the human body with enormous calculating capabilities, "intelligence is a distributed system: not something held like a command centre in the brain and then distributed, but something that is present throughout the organism, and linked together through the nervous system". An example to explain this human capability is similar to the ways spatial intelligence works in kinetic environments. Like the ability in which football players compute and execute the exact angle and force required to score a goal from a free kick. Another example of distributed intelligence at work is in the Australian Aboriginal Art. Aboriginal dot painting is a representation of the landscape inhabited by them with a surprising resemblance of the real space. It shows watercourses, animal shelter, where the edible plant are and all dimensions and spatial arrangement has been learned through a constant exposure to the world surrounding them, by walking, hunting, stalking, spearing.
Van Schaik argues about the influence of spatial intelligence in the creation of engaging spaces. His assumption is to create a better relation between internal and external environments, and it requires the use of the best available knowledge, which in his opinion, involves the designer’s spatial intelligence and mental space; the new informational environment that enables the professional designer to communicate more interactively and inclusively. In van Schaik point of view, this new process of understanding space will provide the chance to forge new kinds of unity between architecture and the communities it seeks to serve: the commission of spatial intelligence is leading architecture’s domain into a new discipline that venture into new spatial formulations, new roles and new approaches. Van Schaik also pointed that architecture has to be more than the production of branded consumable, it has to be capable to influence the individuals deeper history, a benign and malevolent influence in people’s lives. For van Schaik, some of the most influencing architects using spatial intelligence in combination of their community’s mental space are: Peter Zumthor
, Sean Godsell
, Herzog and de Meuron, Zaha Hadid
and Kathryn Findlay.
as a gift of spatial and situational intelligence: knowing what is going to happen in three seconds, anticipating the pattern approaching by seeing the pattern instantaneously, sussing out the goalie's next decision and other players' eventual trajectories in what would be a single glance if a glance were even taken. “Gretzky is the extreme expression of the common skill the game demands”. Bethurne Brian (2011) ‘’Why hockey is the smartest game in the world’’ .Journal of Aesthetic Education. Toronto: Oct, 3 2011 Vol. 124, Iss. 38; pg. 46, 1 pgs.
research on Spatial Imagination in Design demonstrates that an individual’s sensory and perceptual engagement with an environment or space is, in part, constructed by their powers of imagination. For Rendell and Rawes spatial imagination works in a specific political and cultural imagination as belonging to the individual designer and user. The results of this contextual understanding will inform and reflect the specific cultural, historical and political diversity and value of the architectural and built environment to the design community and beyond. Inns Tom (2007). Designing for the 21st Century: Interdisciplinary Questions and insights. Gower England. pp 13, 205-207 ISBN - 13: 9780566087370
Theory of multiple intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability....
that deals with spatial judgment and the ability to visualize with the mind's eye. It is defined by Howard Gardner
Howard Gardner
Howard Earl Gardner is an American developmental psychologist who is a professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero and author of over twenty books translated into thirty languages. Since 1995, he has...
as a human computational capacity that provides the ability or mental skill to solve spatial problems of navigation
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
, visualization of objects from different angles and space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
, faces or scenes recognition or to notice fine details. Gardner further explains that Spatial Intelligence could be more effective to solve problems in areas related to realistic, thing-oriented, artistic and investigative occupations. This capability is a brain skill that is also found in people with visual impairment. As researched by Gardner, a blind person can recognize shapes by a non visual way. The spatial reasoning of the blind person allows them to translate tactile sensations into mental calculation of length and visualisation of form.
Origin of the concept
Spatial intelligenceTheory of multiple intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability....
is one of the seven intelligences on Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Theory of multiple intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability....
, each of which is composed of a number of separate sub capacities. An intelligence provides the ability to solve problem or create products that are valued in a particular culture. Each intelligence is a neurally based computational system that is activated by internal or external information. Intelligences are always an interaction between biological proclivities and the opportunities for learning that exist in a culture. The application of this theory in the general practice covers a product range from scientific theories to musical compositions to successful political campaigns. Gardner suggested a general correspondence between each capability with an occupational role at the workplace, for examples: for those individuals with linguistic
Theory of multiple intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability....
intelligence he pointed journalists, speakers and trainers; scientist, engineers, financiers and accountants on logical-mathematical
Theory of multiple intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability....
intelligence; sales people, managers, teachers and counselors on the personal
Theory of multiple intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability....
intelligence; athletes, contractors and actors on bodily-kinesthetic
Theory of multiple intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability....
intelligence; taxonomists, ecologist and veterinarians on naturalistic
Theory of multiple intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability....
intelligence; clergy and philosophers on existential
Theory of multiple intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability....
intelligence and designers, architects and taxi drivers on spatial
Theory of multiple intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability....
intelligence.
Newcombe and Frick
In the article Early Education for spatial intelligence: Why, What and How, Nora NewcombeNora Newcombe
Nora Newcombe is a Professor of Psychology at Temple University, United States. She is a nationally recognized expert on cognitive development, and her research focuses on spatial development and the development of episodic and autobiographical memory...
and Andrea Frick apply the concept of spatial intelligence to the educational realm. Newcombe and Frick approached the concept in different ways:
- Spatial intelligence has evolutionary and adaptive importance. Any mobile organism must be able to navigate in its world to survive and must represent the spatial environment in order to do so. Moving further along the evolutionary timeline, the human ability to make tools is one of the hallmarks of our species.
- Spatial thinking is the principal complement to verbal thinking.
- Spatial thinking helps reasoning in domains that are not, on the surface, obviously spatial. For example, spatial metaphors and diagrams can be used to understand ordered relations (e.g., the ranking of Gross National Product among developing countries) or complex hierarchical relations (e.g., social relationships and biological taxonomies).
- A critically important application of spatial thinking is to the science, technology, engineering, and mathematicsSTEM fieldsSTEM fields is a US Government acronym for the fields of study in the categories of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The acronym is in use regarding access to work visas for immigrants who are skilled in these fields. Maintaining a citizenry that is well versed in the STEM fields...
(STEM) disciplines. For example, Watson and CrickWatson and CrickJames D. Watson and Francis Crick were the two co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953. They used x-ray diffraction data collected by Rosalind Franklin and proposed the double helix or spiral staircase structure of the DNA molecule...
’s discovery of the structure of DNADNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
occurred when they were able to fit a three-dimensional model to Rosalind FranklinRosalind FranklinRosalind Elsie Franklin was a British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer who made critical contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal and graphite...
’s flat images of the moleculeMoleculeA molecule is an electrically neutral group of at least two atoms held together by covalent chemical bonds. Molecules are distinguished from ions by their electrical charge...
—clearly a spatial task. Similarly, a geoscientist visualizes the processes that affect the formation of the earth, an engineer anticipates how various forces may affect the design of a structure, and a neurosurgeon visualizes particular brain areas from magnetic resonance imaging that may deter- mine the outcome of a surgical procedure. - Spatial intelligence provides the ability to imagine transformations of the orientation of objects (e.g., mental rotations) and the ability to imagine the consequence of observer movements around arrays of objects (i.e., perspective taking). Mental rotation is the skill for which the strongest evidence exists currently for positing relations with STEM learning, and both mental rotation and perspective taking have been extensively studied from a variety of approaches, including research that has adopted developmental, cognitive, psychometric, and neuroscientific methods.
Van Schaik
The architect Leon van Schaik formulates the adoption of spatial intelligence in the field of architectureArchitecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
and design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
. His first assumption relates to the origin of architecture in the human computational capacity to organize themselves spatially; based on people's own ideas about space, histories in space and communal mental space; all has been a combination that has evolved into society over millennia. Van Schaik explains how spatial intelligence works and how it is linked to the way individuals assess their surroundings. His comments are based on the research done by Roger Penrose
Roger Penrose
Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS is an English mathematical physicist and Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College...
, Shadows of the Mind
Shadows of the Mind
Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness is a 1994 book by mathematical physicist Roger Penrose, and serves as a followup to his 1989 book The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of Physics....
. The awareness of what happens around someone comes from cells in the human body with enormous calculating capabilities, "intelligence is a distributed system: not something held like a command centre in the brain and then distributed, but something that is present throughout the organism, and linked together through the nervous system". An example to explain this human capability is similar to the ways spatial intelligence works in kinetic environments. Like the ability in which football players compute and execute the exact angle and force required to score a goal from a free kick. Another example of distributed intelligence at work is in the Australian Aboriginal Art. Aboriginal dot painting is a representation of the landscape inhabited by them with a surprising resemblance of the real space. It shows watercourses, animal shelter, where the edible plant are and all dimensions and spatial arrangement has been learned through a constant exposure to the world surrounding them, by walking, hunting, stalking, spearing.
Van Schaik argues about the influence of spatial intelligence in the creation of engaging spaces. His assumption is to create a better relation between internal and external environments, and it requires the use of the best available knowledge, which in his opinion, involves the designer’s spatial intelligence and mental space; the new informational environment that enables the professional designer to communicate more interactively and inclusively. In van Schaik point of view, this new process of understanding space will provide the chance to forge new kinds of unity between architecture and the communities it seeks to serve: the commission of spatial intelligence is leading architecture’s domain into a new discipline that venture into new spatial formulations, new roles and new approaches. Van Schaik also pointed that architecture has to be more than the production of branded consumable, it has to be capable to influence the individuals deeper history, a benign and malevolent influence in people’s lives. For van Schaik, some of the most influencing architects using spatial intelligence in combination of their community’s mental space are: Peter Zumthor
Peter Zumthor
Peter Zumthor is a Swiss architect and winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize.-Early life:Zumthor was born in Basel, the son of a cabinet-maker...
, Sean Godsell
Sean Godsell
Sean Godsell is an Australian architect and former professional footballer.Godsell was born in Melbourne, Australia, the son of David Godsell, also an architect. In his early years he lived in Beaumaris and attended Kostka Hall a preparatory school to Xavier College where he completed his...
, Herzog and de Meuron, Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...
and Kathryn Findlay.
Komninos
Nicos Komninos applies the concept of spatial intelligence to cities, and defined the idea as the ability of a community to use its intellectual capital, institutions and material infrastructure to deal with a range of problems and challenges. Spatial intelligence emerges from the agglomeration and integration of three types of intelligence: the inventiveness, creativity and intellectual capital of the city's population; the collective intelligence of the city's institutions and social capital; and the artificial intelligence of public and city-wide smart infrastructure, virtual environments and intelligent agents. Using this spatially combined intellectual capacity, cities can respond effectively to changing socio-economic conditions, address challenges, plan their future, and sustain the prosperity and well-being of citizens.Bethune
Brian Bethune defines spatial intelligence as the ability to grasp a changing whole and anticipate its next stage; the ability to make quick decisions; to size up all the relationships in a fast-changing array and understand them. A related notion is that of situational awareness: a heightened consciousness of the individual’s surroundings and both the intentions of the people around and their anticipated actions. Bethune claims that the power of spatial intelligence and situational awareness are fully explained in the practice of hokey. Bethune explains that hockey reveals and rewards situational and spatial intelligence at a degree of difficulty that no other sport possesses. Bethune’s example refers to the ability of the hockey player Wayne GretzkyWayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...
as a gift of spatial and situational intelligence: knowing what is going to happen in three seconds, anticipating the pattern approaching by seeing the pattern instantaneously, sussing out the goalie's next decision and other players' eventual trajectories in what would be a single glance if a glance were even taken. “Gretzky is the extreme expression of the common skill the game demands”. Bethurne Brian (2011) ‘’Why hockey is the smartest game in the world’’ .Journal of Aesthetic Education. Toronto: Oct, 3 2011 Vol. 124, Iss. 38; pg. 46, 1 pgs.
Rendell and Rawes
Jane Rendell and Peg RawesPeg Rawes
Peg Rawes is an architectural historian and theorist. She was educated at The University of Leeds, Oxford Brookes University, University of Warwick and Goldsmiths, University of London...
research on Spatial Imagination in Design demonstrates that an individual’s sensory and perceptual engagement with an environment or space is, in part, constructed by their powers of imagination. For Rendell and Rawes spatial imagination works in a specific political and cultural imagination as belonging to the individual designer and user. The results of this contextual understanding will inform and reflect the specific cultural, historical and political diversity and value of the architectural and built environment to the design community and beyond. Inns Tom (2007). Designing for the 21st Century: Interdisciplinary Questions and insights. Gower England. pp 13, 205-207 ISBN - 13: 9780566087370
See also
- Learning stylesLearning stylesLearning styles are various approaches or ways of learning. They involve educating methods, particular to an individual, that are presumed to allow that individual to learn best. Most people prefer an identifiable method of interacting with, taking in, and processing stimuli or information...
- AptitudeAptitudeAn aptitude is an innate component of a competency to do a certain kind of work at a certain level. Aptitudes may be physical or mental...
- Emotional intelligenceEmotional intelligenceEmotional intelligence is a skill or ability in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. Various models and definitions have been proposed of which the ability and trait EI models are the most...
- General intelligence factorGeneral intelligence factorThe g factor, where g stands for general intelligence, is a statistic used in psychometrics to model the mental ability underlying results of various tests of cognitive ability...
- Intelligence quotientIntelligence quotientAn intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. When modern IQ tests are constructed, the mean score within an age group is set to 100 and the standard deviation to 15...
- Social intelligenceSocial intelligenceSocial intelligence describes the exclusively human capacity to use very large brains to effectively navigate and negotiate complex social relationships and environments....