The capacity to discern pitch, rhythm, timbre, and tone. This intelligence enables people to recognize, create, reproduce, and reflect on music.

Gardner identifies several key criteria that a cognitive ability must meet to be considered an intelligence:

Potential Isolation by Brain Damage

Existence of Savants, Prodigies, and Other Exceptional Individuals

An Identifiable Core Operation or Set of Operations

A Distinct Developmental Trajectory

An Evolutionary History and Evolutionary Plausibility

Support from Experimental Psychological Tasks

Support from Psychometric Findings

Susceptibility to Encoding in a Symbol System

The ability to master language and communicate effectively. People with high linguistic intelligence are adept at reading, writing, telling stories, and memorizing words. They tend to learn best by reading, taking notes, and discussing.

Entails using one's body effectively, such as dancers or surgeons. It involves a sense of timing, clear physical coordination, and using fine and gross motor skills.