Research is ongoing

How Intelligence Works brings together established findings, supported interpretations, developing proposals, open questions, and planned research. Those categories are not equivalent.

Pages should be read in light of their stated status, cited evidence, limitations, and the possibility that interpretations will change as better evidence becomes available.

Not professional advice

The site does not provide medical, psychological, clinical, educational, legal, employment, financial, or other professional advice. General information about intelligence, cognition, disability, health, education, work, AI, or support cannot determine what is appropriate for a particular person or decision.

Not an assessment or diagnosis

Nothing on this site is a substitute for a validated assessment conducted for an appropriate purpose by a qualified professional. HIW frameworks, diagrams, task descriptions, environmental descriptions, and developing research tools should not be used to diagnose, rank, select, exclude, or make consequential decisions about individuals unless and until a specific tool has been validated and is being used within appropriate professional and ethical standards.

Evidence has limits

Research findings depend on samples, measures, designs, assumptions, contexts and statistical uncertainty. A result that is useful in one setting may not generalise to another.

References and links are provided to make reasoning inspectable; inclusion does not mean every source, interpretation, or claim is endorsed without qualification.

AI and technology

Discussion of artificial intelligence is intended to examine how technology changes tasks, support, human agency and performance. It is not an endorsement of any particular AI system, vendor, automated decision, or use case.

Updates, corrections and uncertainty

The project is intended to be corrigible. Claims may be revised, narrowed, corrected, or withdrawn when evidence changes. Where uncertainty matters, the responsible response is to make it visible rather than hide it.