The SPIRIT Alliance and the COPE Project

The COPE Project (Influence/Control Over Perceptual Experiences) is being run from the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University, with the aim of researching "those who hear, see, and feel things others can’t/don't," and in particular seeking understanding of how people can control these experiences and how new treatments can be developed "for those who need them." People who have had such experiences are being sought to take part in the study. There is an advisory committee (which they are calling the SPIRIT Alliance) drawn from quite a wide range of institutions, ranging from mental health and advocacy groups to parapsychologcal institutes such as the Rhine Research Center and the Windbridge Research Center:
https://www.spirit.research.yale.edu/

[Laird]

Thanks for this, Chris. I shared it with a friend, who gave it a go, but was screened out. She encouraged me to give it a go, and I was also screened out. I am not sure why either of us let alone both of us were screened out, because we seem to fit all of the criteria, but there you have it.

Incidentally, the last question of the IQ test is a doozy. Neither of us can work it out, and she's especially good at IQ tests. Can you or anybody else here work out what the correct answer is, and, most importantly, explain why? [Edit: but maybe do it using a spoiler so that those who want to take the survey and not cheat have the option not to peek]

Thanks for this, Chris. I shared it with a friend, who gave it a go, but was screened out. She encouraged me to give it a go, and I was also screened out. I am not sure why either of us let alone both of us were screened out, because we seem to fit all of the criteria, but there you have it.

Incidentally, the last question of the IQ test is a doozy. Neither of us can work it out, and she's especially good at IQ tests. Can you or anybody else here work out what the correct answer is, and, most importantly, explain why? [Edit: but maybe do it using a spoiler so that those who want to take the survey and not cheat have the option not to peek]

Show contentSpoiler:

It's B. Progressing across each row or down each column gives you the rules for keeping or subtracting lines, dots, circles, diamonds or squares for the final spot.

Across you keep the square, circle, diamond and horizontal/vertical lines. You subtract the corner dots and diagonal lines.
Down you subtract the circle and the diamond, and keep everything else.

I spent quite a long time looking at this and feeling baffled, but eventually concluded that the answer was simpler than anything I had been trying. My solution is below in white text, so it should show up when selected.

Looking at the final row, for each symbol (dots, +, X, square, diamond and circle) look at the pattern of occurrence in the first two positions. For example, the square doesn't occur in the first column, but does occur in the second. Then look at the rows above, to see if the same pattern occurs in the first two positions there. It does, in the top row, and in the third position of that row, there is a square. So there should be a square in the final position of the bottom row.

Then do the same for the right-hand column. In that case, in the first two positions the square is (1) present and (2) absent. Of the two columns on the left, the same pattern of squares in the first two positions occurs in the second column. In the final position there is a square. So there should be a square in the final position of the right-hand column. That is consistent with what the comparison of the rows indicated.

Repeating this for all the symbols indicates that just the square and the + should be present, and all the others should be absent. So the answer is B.

Thanks for this, Chris. I shared it with a friend, who gave it a go, but was screened out. She encouraged me to give it a go, and I was also screened out. I am not sure why either of us let alone both of us were screened out, because we seem to fit all of the criteria, but there you have it.

Incidentally, the last question of the IQ test is a doozy. Neither of us can work it out, and she's especially good at IQ tests. Can you or anybody else here work out what the correct answer is, and, most importantly, explain why? [Edit: but maybe do it using a spoiler so that those who want to take the survey and not cheat have the option not to peek]

Show contentSpoiler:

I thought of an even simpler way to get to the answer. Because the final spot in each row and column only contains elements which are already present in at least one of the other two position, the answer must contain (in some combination) only those elements which are in common between the final column and row.

This answer works to eliminate all but one choice in this case. Sometimes it's not about knowing how to find the correct answer, but about knowing how to eliminate all the wrong answers.

[Laird]

Thanks for your answers, guys. All three of us agree on the answer, but, it seems to me, only Chris has a fully rigorous explanation (no offence, Linda, yours was very creative though I think it has a minor issue and is not as general as Chris's). Mine was partly ad-hoc. For more, expand the spoiler:

Show contentSpoiler:

I was working on a theory that each symbol, if it occurred at all in a row or column, occurred only twice in that row or column. But this pattern didn't hold universally: in the middle row, the + symbol occurs three times, and in the middle column, the dots occur three times. Otherwise, it holds. So, I just bracketed those inconsistencies, and otherwise applied the two-symbols-per-row-and-column to the missing entry and determined that B was the outcome, but reconciling the three + symbols of the final row by reference to the inconsistency of the three + symbols of the middle row.

[Laird]

no offence, Linda, yours was very creative though I think it has a minor issue and is not as general as Chris's

Though your second answer is a handy shortcut!

Thanks for your answers, guys. All three of us agree on the answer, but, it seems to me, only Chris has a fully rigorous explanation (no offence, Linda, yours was very creative though I think it has a minor issue and is not as general as Chris's). Mine was partly ad-hoc. For more, expand the spoiler:

Show contentSpoiler:

I was working on a theory that each symbol, if it occurred at all in a row or column, occurred only twice in that row or column. But this pattern didn't hold universally: in the middle row, the + symbol occurs three times, and in the middle column, the dots occur three times. Otherwise, it holds. So, I just bracketed those inconsistencies, and otherwise applied the two-symbols-per-row-and-column to the missing entry and determined that B was the outcome, but reconciling the three + symbols of the final row by reference to the inconsistency of the three + symbols of the middle row.

I think probably the rule that I tried to explain is meant to be the underlying principle, but the more complicated these puzzles get, the more scope there is to define multiple rules that are consistent with the data and give the same answer (or even a different answer).

Though your second answer is a handy shortcut!

Actually, it is the only rule which might be right. My initial rule, and Chris and you are likely wrong. I started a thread on the reason here.

Linda

[Laird]

Actually, it is the only rule which might be right. My initial rule, and Chris and you are likely wrong. I started a thread on the reason here.

Oh, I am almost certainly wrong. My reasoning is badly ad hoc. Somehow I stumbled on the right answer though. Your second answer and Chris's can, IMO, be preferred for rivalling aesthetic reasons, as per my second response to you in your thread to which you linked.