©Arlene R. Taylor PhD

Take the Sensory Preference Assessment (available free of charge on website).

Explanation of Sensory Preference Assessment Scores

Write total score for each column in the correct box below:

  • Column 1: _____ / 21
  • Column 2: _____ / 21
  • Column 3: _____ / 21

The highest score on the Sensory Preference Assessment usually represents your overall sensory preference, unless you have adapted away from it for some reason. Remember that you use all of your senses most (if not all) of the time. Sensory preference refers to the type of sensory stimuli that register in your brain most quickly and intensely. Those type of sensory stimuli usually require the least amount of energy expenditures to decode (make sense of them) in the brain.

  • Column 1 represents an auditory preference
  • Column 2 represents a visual preference
  • Column 3 represents a kinesthetic preference

Note: Avoid confusing a Visual sensory preference (e.g., what you take in through sight registers most quickly and intensely in your brain) with an ability to Visualize (e.g., create internal mental pictures). A Visual sensory preference can occur with any type of brain lead; the ability to Visualize is perhaps done most energy efficiently by individuals with a FR brain lead—although most brains can learn to do this with practice.

If two scores are tied, one of the scores likely represents your sensory preference, while the other represents skills you’ve developed in order to relate to someone significant in your life. If one of the tied scores is kinesthesia, consider the possibility that your innate preference is kinesthetic and that for some reason, you have increased skills in another sensory system.

If all scores are equal, you may have developed higher numbers of skills in other sensory systems due to lack of opportunity to use your own preference, a perceived necessity to relate to a specific person or environment, or because of being punished or shamed for your own preference. Use your scores as a starting point for evaluating your sensory history. Try to uncover and identify factors that may have pushed you away from your sensory preference or made it uncomfortable to use.

For additional information, refer to Practical Applications.