Question
What is cognitive ability?
Short answer
Cognitive ability is the set of mental skills involved in perception, learning, memory, understanding, reasoning, judgment and language, in the APA Dictionary’s words. Researchers group these into broad abilities such as fluid reasoning, knowledge, visual processing, working memory and processing speed. An IQ score summarizes a person’s overall level across several of them.
Want your own number? The test is 25 visual puzzles, about 12 minutes, no sign-up.
A working definition
The APA Dictionary of Psychology defines cognitive ability as the skills involved in perception, learning, memory, understanding, awareness, reasoning, judgment, intuition and language (APA Dictionary, cognitive ability). It defines intelligence as the ability to derive information, learn from experience, adapt to the environment, understand, and correctly use thought and reason (APA Dictionary, intelligence). The two terms overlap heavily; hiring tests usually say cognitive ability, while psychologists and the public more often say intelligence or IQ.
The main abilities
The Cattell-Horn-Carroll family of theories groups cognitive abilities into broad abilities under general ability (g). A 2023 study measured fluid reasoning (Gf), comprehension-knowledge (Gc), visual processing (Gv), auditory processing (Ga), short-term working memory (Gwm), retrieval fluency (Gr) and processing speed (Gs) (McGrew et al., 2023).
- Working memory: holding and using information for a few seconds.
- Processing speed: how quickly you handle simple information.
- Spatial ability: picturing and transforming shapes.
- Fluid and crystallized intelligence: new problems versus learned knowledge.
Try one · Pattern Recognition
Which tile comes next?
Tap the option you think is right, or show the answer.
Show the answer
The missing tile shows a very large solid arrow pointing right (option 5).
How to solve it
- Compare neighboring tiles and name what changes each time.
- From tile to tile, the arrow turns a quarter turn clockwise.
- The fill cycles solid, hatched and outline, then starts again.
- Everything else stays the same from tile to tile.
- The last tile shows a very large outlined arrow pointing up. Apply each change once more.
- So the missing tile shows a very large solid arrow pointing right.
That was 1 puzzle. The full test has 25.
Why it matters
General cognitive ability is one of the stronger predictors in the workplace research: a review of 85 years of studies estimated its validity for job performance at 0.51 (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). That is why so many employers use short cognitive tests, from the CCAT to the Wonderlic. It is a group-level tendency, not a forecast for any one person.
Can it be improved?
Education has the best evidence: about 1 to 5 IQ points per additional year (Ritchie & Tucker-Drob, 2018). Brain-training games mostly improve the trained tasks, with little evidence of gains on distantly related tasks or everyday thinking (Simons et al., 2016). More in can you raise your intelligence.
Measuring yours
For practice, the free cognitive ability test gives a timed 10-question sample. For an overall estimate across five kinds of reasoning, take the full IQ test.
Sources
- American Psychological Association, APA Dictionary of Psychology, entry "cognitive ability" dictionary.apa.org/cognitive-ability
- American Psychological Association, APA Dictionary of Psychology, entry "intelligence" dictionary.apa.org/intelligence
- McGrew, K. S., Schneider, W. J., Decker, S. L., & Bulut, O. (2023). A psychometric network analysis of CHC intelligence measures. Journal of Intelligence, 11(1), 19. doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence11010019
- Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 262-274. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.262
- Ritchie, S. J., & Tucker-Drob, E. M. (2018). How much does education improve intelligence? A meta-analysis. Psychological Science, 29(8), 1358-1369. doi.org/10.1177/0956797618774253
- Simons, D. J., Boot, W. R., Charness, N., Gathercole, S. E., Chabris, C. F., Hambrick, D. Z., & Stine-Morrow, E. A. L. (2016). Do "brain-training" programs work? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(3), 103-186. doi.org/10.1177/1529100616661983