What verbal and nonverbal strengths mean
Verbal and nonverbal strengths describe whether tasks using language or tasks using figures, layouts, and visual rules are relatively stronger within a person's profile.
- Verbal strength — stronger performance when identifying word meanings, retrieving knowledge, organizing common concepts, and explaining ideas in language
- Nonverbal or visual strength — stronger performance when decomposing and reconstructing shapes, handling orientation and position, and finding rules in visual patterns
“Strength” can mean both a high score relative to same-age peers and a relative high point within the person. WAIS does not assign a “verbal type” or “nonverbal type”; the difference is read from index and subtest scores.
Features of a verbal strength
The core of a verbal strength is not talking more or reading faster, but using vocabulary, knowledge, and concepts for understanding and explanation.
- summarize a shared principle across several examples
- define an ambiguous term to reduce disagreement
- connect previously learned knowledge with the current problem
- express reasons and procedures in language to find a missing condition
At work and in learning, this may appear when extracting the argument from a long document, explaining complex content in sequence, or adding names and conditions to a diagram or demonstration. Crystallized intelligence and verbal comprehension explains the ability in more detail.
Features of a nonverbal strength
The core of a nonverbal strength is preserving shape and position while seeing structure and finding relationships in visual material.
- decompose a completed form and imagine how its parts assemble
- relate a plan to a physical object or a flat drawing to a three-dimensional form
- see hierarchy and grouping from the layout of a screen or page
- find a rule in changes across a graph or set of figures
The nonverbal side includes visuospatial processing, which handles shape, orientation, and layout, and fluid reasoning, which finds new relationships and rules. One can be much stronger than the other, so the meaning still depends on the subtests.
How to read the difference in WAIS results
Older WAIS editions used VIQ and PIQ. In WAIS-IV, VCI and PRI provide a broad verbal–nonverbal comparison. WAIS-5 separates the visuospatial and fluid-reasoning abilities formerly combined within PRI into VSI and FRI. WAIS-IV and WAIS-5 compared explains the edition change.
For a WAIS-IV result, do not rely on the VCI–PRI difference alone. Use the significance and base-rate information in the report and inspect the subtests within each index. A difference between Block Design and Matrix Reasoning, for example, can distinguish strength in shape and layout from strength in discovering rules. WAIS index meanings explains the composition of each index.
How to use the stronger format at work and in learning
The same activity often involves organizing some information in words and checking other information through figures or physical examples. It is more useful to identify which stage becomes easier than to divide whole occupations into verbal and nonverbal work.
| Stage | Use a verbal strength | Use a nonverbal strength |
|---|---|---|
| Input | Extract conditions from text, conversation, definitions, and procedures | Extract structure from plans, completed examples, demonstrations, and layout |
| Organization | Put arguments, reasons, and conditions into prose or bullets | Put relationships, sequence, and hierarchy into diagrams, tables, or spatial layouts |
| Output | Produce a specification, explanation, or presentation | Produce a diagram, layout, process map, or model |
If a graph is difficult to follow, state its relationship in words. If the structure of a long paragraph is difficult to see, put conditions and conclusions into a two-column table. Use the stronger format during understanding, then return the result to the form the task requires.
BrainTypeIQ reports verbal comprehension, visuospatial processing, and fluid reasoning separately, allowing the broad verbal–nonverbal difference to be traced to a more specific process.