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Origami and Spatial Intelligence

Posted: April 15th, 2018, 7:57 am
by Ponadr
Over the years I noticed that the average person is quite limited in their ability to fold origami and that very few people excel in origami. Is origami only reserved for people with abnormally high spatial intelligence? What are your thoughts on this?

Re: Origami and Spatial Intelligence

Posted: April 15th, 2018, 2:03 pm
by Kabuntan
I think that it the same for many activities: beginners often struggle, "practice makes perfect" but requires personal investment.
So, the average person isn't used to fold origami, but also isn't used to, let's say, juggle balls or other objects, and only very few people excel at juggling (now there is at least a famous (in our origami world) person who can do both, but very few of us excel at both).

Re: Origami and Spatial Intelligence

Posted: April 15th, 2018, 8:32 pm
by Tankoda
Origami comes more readily to some people than to others though. Some people seem to have a natural inclination for it, others have an inclination against it. That has been my experience.

Re: Origami and Spatial Intelligence

Posted: April 16th, 2018, 11:59 am
by Splunge
But isn't this true for any kind of art, crafting etc. in general? I don't see why Origami should be different in this respect.

Re: Origami and Spatial Intelligence

Posted: April 16th, 2018, 2:27 pm
by HankSimon
I would imagine that most of the fluent designers have better than average spatial intelligence. I believe we have a number of engineers, chemists, physicists, and mathematicians active in the Forum, and they are frequently trained in spatial thinking. In addition to artists, we had at least one professional sculptor, who came to Origami later in his career. [So, Yes for design]

But, I don't know if even good spatial intelligence is needed for folding. I think patience and ability to follow directions and see patterns is enough to enjoy Origami. I don't see in 3D when I fold (probably one reason why I can't fold CPs.), but I consider myself an average folder. I don't fold many complex models because of lack of patience, or because of lack of "learned" Origami dexterity. And, at least in my case, I don't think I would enjoy folding for hours, even if my spatial sense was superior. [But, not needed for enjoyment.]

Re: Origami and Spatial Intelligence

Posted: April 16th, 2018, 3:46 pm
by Baltorigamist
I think spatial relations definitely helps when it comes to folding and designing. For example, good spatial-relations skills make it easy to tell where a certain crease or area of the paper will end up when a given fold is made. Following complex diagrams is also helped for the same reason.

What I think is interesting is that I apparently have a low processing speed (meaning I take longer than average to process large amounts of information), yet I consider myself to be a fairly quick folder. So maybe my spatial-relations skills override my processing speed in a way.... It's definitely an interesting question, and one which I think deserves some studying.