A WISC Worth Taking

6 years ago, the WISC-V was released in Australia (2016). One of the key authors Larry Weiss presented on the updated test kit. As part of the presentation, Larry spoke about his colleague James Holdnack’s analogy to help describe the 5 cognitive domains.

The Verbal Comprehension Domain can be described as “The Librarian” as they use words. The Visual Spatial Domain can be described as “The Architect” as it is about spatial awareness. The ‘new’ Fluid Reasoning domain can be described as “The Detective” as it utilises logic and deductive reasoning. The Working Memory domain can be described as a “General Manager” as it oversees and coordinates auditory and visual information. The Processing Speed Domain can be describe like a “Clerk” as how well it can quickly and effectively pass a message.

This analogy made it very easy for me to quickly sketch it in my professional development book that day. I immediately envisioned these characters to be a team not dissimilar to how Disney/Pixar created the characters for Inside Out. After that sketch I emailed James to seek permission whether I could make a graphic presentation from his anaology. He gave me permission … sadly it would take me a few years before I would execute the final picture.

Figure 1. The original note-taking sketch of Weiss et. al.’s (2016) analogy. WISC-V training, Melbourne. 24.04.2016

For years I procrastinated creating and conceptualising these characters. Usually I would re-visit them during other professional development days as small sketches. I never thought they were good enough and I wanted them to look great - taking the time to consider size and shape of characters, how to easily explain the characters but staying true to the authors’ descriptions.

Figure 2. Concept sketches for “The Detective”, “The Architect” and “General Manager” - 2021-2022

The moment came this year when I was approached to provide teaching to schools and universities. This finally motivated me to complete this graphic that proved to be very useful amongst peers and students alike. I had to just do it and “get the information out there”.

Figure 3. The final product for the WISC/WPPSI domain characters. Kathryn Kallady 2022

It was extremely terrifying to see this image become so popular so quickly. Most disappointing was that the media platforms I utilised to share this image reduced the file size making it difficult for people to print the image.

This has made me once again step out of my comfort zone on the internet and create a website to share more helpful graphics with my peers. It is now here, FREE and accessible for all in a high resolution format. I am so pleased to know that the image fulfilled its purpose to give psychologists a visual tool to help explain these concepts to many audiences and aid good communication.

It was a WISC worth taking. Thank you for your feedback as it has been affirming and very helpful to keep me inspired to create more useful content for my psychology peers. You have been an inspiration.

Stay Tuned,

KK