Your
brain has a wide array of abilities. A very basic one is observational intelligence, or OI. Most importantly, it is the
foundation of any
sensory intelligence you possess, making it absolutely vital in
learning and day-to-day survival.
OI is the ability to quickly sort through any
sensory input, such as sights and sounds. A high OI will allow you to notice more things around you, faster. On the
abstract level, OI will allow you to notice similarities or differences between experiences in your
memory, allowing comparisons over time. Whether your
analytical brain is a part of the OI is up for debate.
In everyday life, OI is most noticable in your
ability to
react and your pace of learning. A high OI will detect changes (or lack thereof) faster, and will allow better analysis of
knowledge, simply because it notices more about the
topic examined.
OI Training
It is quite possible, even easy, to train your observational intelligence, though it may take time, depending on your
personality.
The simplest
training method is to take a picture containing a complex scenary, such as a city street or a battle scene. Looking at it, you start writing down or saying out loud (if someone is present to hear you) individual things seen in the picture, like an old woman or a
fighter airplane. This continues, but the level of
obscurity is constantly pushed, so that more and more obscure things are noticed (a potted plant broken against the street in a distant shadow, a downed pilot being dragged out of the water in a small liferaft), until you are noticing things so small or hidden, that no one in their right mind would see them. Continued examination of the picture over several days can reveal more and more details, forcing your brain to push its observational intelligence further and further.
The same
procedure can be used with other forms of
input, such as
music (notice background
instruments or changes in
beat) or even smells (common practice in
wine tasting). The bad news is, that OI always works through either a
sensory intelligence or
memory, requiring these to be of a certain level. However, the training will also affect any sensory intelligence being applied.