When I see the word intelligence, I automatically think of the knowledge everyone knows and the ability to learn or understand new or old thing. Intelligence is defined as “the ability to learn about, learn from, understand, and interact with one’s environment” (Intelligence, 2009). When locating intelligence in our brains, intelligence is typically seated on the frontal lobes, however, if there happens to be damage to the frontal lobe, this doesn’t necessarily mean it will affect someone’s intelligence because there are other brain areas involved in intelligence (Intelligence, 2009). One thing intelligence relies heavily on is a neural superhighway known as the arcuate fasciculus, which is a thick bundle of nerve fibers that provides a neural link from the frontal lobe with the parietal lobes (Gazzaniga et al., 2019). Moreover, IQ scores are used to measure someone’s intelligence level and when this does occur, there are two different intelligence that get focused on; fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence.

Fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence was developed by psychologist Raymond B. Cattell’s former student and cognitive psychology John Leonard Horn (Perera, 2020). Have you ever met someone who is capable of taking in new information and extrapolate answer without letting previous knowledge get in the way? This is called fluid intelligence. Fluid intelligence is the ability to think abstractly, reason quickly, and problem solve independent of any previous acquired knowledge (Perera, 2020). Unlike fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence is based on facts and rooted in our experiences. An example of fluid intelligence is solving puzzles or maybe even a Rubik’s cube because both involve one to come up with problem solving strategies. On the other hand, examples of crystallized intelligence are riding a bike, reading a book, recalling historical events and dates, reciting lyrics from a song. These are all good examples of crystallized intelligence because they are facts or have been rooted in experience.

Class, how would you test for fluid intelligence? Why is fluid intelligence important?