Which cognitive ability gives off the biggest “damn, this person is smart” effect?
I’ve been thinking about this because my cognitive profile is pretty uneven but probably also due to the fact that English is not my native language:
VCI N/A | FRI 148 | VSI 132 | QRI N/A | WMI 94 | PSI 114
And I’m curious which cognitive ability people actually perceive as the most impressive or “tuff” in real life.
For example:
VCI – being insanely articulate, having a huge vocabulary and being able to explain very complex ideas effortlessly. Probably the most obvious “this guy is intelligent” trait in a conversation.
FRI – seeing the underlying logic of completely new problems and figuring things out without being taught the method. Someone who does this extremely well might just randomly say something and you think “wait, how tf did he figure that out?” This is probably my favourite ability, not because it’s my highest, but because I feel like this represents my original idea of Intelligence most deeply.
VSI – basically having a 3D model of things in your head and being able to mentally manipulate complicated structures.
QRI – intuitively seeing mathematical relationships and deriving solutions instead of relying on memorized formulas.
WMI – having an absurd mental workspace and being able to keep and manipulate a lot of information simultaneously.
PSI – extremely fast and accurate processing, where you just seem to instantly understand and react to simple information.
So I’m wondering:
Which one gives the strongest “damn, this person is actually smart” effect to you?
And maybe more interestingly: which ability do you think is actually the most impressive/“tuff” at an extreme level, even if it isn’t necessarily the one people consciously associate with intelligence?