Gardner identifies several key criteria that a cognitive ability must meet to be considered an intelligence: Potential Isolation by Brain DamageExistence of Savants, Prodigies, and Other Exceptional IndividualsAn Identifiable Core Operation or Set of Operations A Distinct Developmental TrajectoryAn Evolutionary History and Evolutionary PlausibilitySupport from Experimental Psychological Tasks Support from Psychometric FindingsSusceptibility to Encoding in a Symbol System