Verbal IQ

Verbal IQ is a measure of aspects of intelligence that relate to words and language and is associated with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale. When David Wechsler developed his IQ test in 1939, he divided it into two components—tasks that required mainly verbal abilities and tasks that required mainly perceptual-manipulative skills. The verbal IQ can be considered primarily a measure of acquired knowledge, verbal reasoning, and general verbal skills. It includes measures of vocabulary knowledge, verbal concept formation, arithmetic skill, auditory memory, general fund of information, and understanding of social rules and norms. Recent editions of the Wechsler scales have broken down verbal IQ into a verbal comprehension component and a working memory component. The verbal comprehension scale most closely represents what has traditionally been thought of as verbal IQ.

Another way of thinking about verbal IQ is that it is that aspect of intelligence that depends on experience and learning, sometimes referred to as crystallized intelligence. Because of its dependence on experience, verbal IQ is highly culturally loaded. If an individual has not had life experiences similar to the typical United States citizen, her or his score may be artificially lowered. Although the research is far from definitive, there is some indication that skills measured by verbal IQ stay the same or increase with age and experience while those measured by performance IQ tend to decline. Attempts to tie verbal IQ to the left hemisphere of the brain and performance IQ to the right hemisphere have generally not been successful.