Knox Cubes

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title: "Knox Cubes" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["intelligence-tests", "cognitive-tests"] description: "Intelligence test" topic_path: "general/intelligence-tests" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knox_Cubes" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Intelligence test ::

The Knox Cube Imitation Test (KCIT, or CIT, or KCT) was developed as a nonverbal intelligence test developed by Dr. Howard Andrew Knox, a medical officer at Ellis Island. It was first published as a pamphlet in 1913, and then in 1914 as a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Knox wrote:

There were several other tests presented in his paper besides the cube test. In the cube test, 4 black 1" cubes were placed in a row, each cube separated by 4 inches from its neighbors. The test administrators takes a smaller cube and taps on the 4 1" cubes in increasingly complicated sequences. The test subject is requested, sometimes only by sign language, to repeat the sequence. If the cubes are numbered 1 through 4, the sequences in order are: :a. 1,2,3,4 :b. 1,2,3,4,3 :c. 1,2,3,4,2 :d. 1,3,2,4,3 :e. 1,3,4,2,1 and so on.

Knox suggested that sequence a (1-2-3-4) is reasonable for a child of 4 years of age, sequence b (1-2-3-4-3) is suitable for a 5-year-old, sequence c (1-2-3-4-2) can be accomplished by a 6-year-old, sequence d (1-3-2-4) can be done by the average 8-year-old, and copying sequence e (1-3-4-2-3-1) is expected by most 11-year-olds. Some of these sequences were repeated as part of other published tests such as Arthur (1947) and Wright & Stone (1979).

Performance on the Knox Cube Imitation Test is correlated with both verbal IQ and performance IQ.

Notes

References

1. [http://www.rasch.org/rmt/rmt133j.htm ''A scale, based on the work at Ellis Island, for estimating mental defect''], Howard A. Knox, The Journal of the American Medical Association, March 7, 1914, LXII, 10, 741-747.
2. [http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17312925 ''Knox's cube imitation test : A historical review and an experimental analysis''], John T. E. Richardson, Brain and cognition, 2005, vol. 59, no2, pp. 183-213 ISSN 0278-2626

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