80% of children under 10 solved this puzzle instantly. Can you?

80% of children under 10 solved this puzzle instantly. Can you?

Are you smarter than a fifth grader? Here’s your chance to find out.

The image of a bus appears above. Your challenge is to determine in which direction the vehicle is heading. The windows at other end appear to be more-or-less identical, as do the fenders, making it virtually impossible to distinguish the front from the rear.

Yet when children aged 10 and under were shown this brain teaser, fourth fifths of them solved it without hesitation. Can you figure out how they did it?

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

If (once?) you give up, watch the video to find out the answer.

The Daily Mail notes that the puzzle has been around for ages. It has resurfaced once again thanks to National Geographic, which is featuring the logic puzzle in an upcoming episode of its TV series “Brain Games.”

The explanation for why kids do better at solving it is provided by researchers at the University of London, who have determined that children under 12 perceive visual information differently from adults.

They tend to use the first visual cue their brain processes to form judgments, making them less accurate but much faster.

Adults, on the other hand, use different kinds of visual information in addition to sensory cues to form judgments.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I flunked.

Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy has written for The Blaze, HotAir, NewsBusters, Weasel Zippers, Conservative Firing Line, RedCounty, and New York’s Daily News. He has one published novel, Hot Rain, (G. P. Putnam’s Sons), and has been a guest on Radio Vice Online with Jim Vicevich, The Alana Burke Show, Smart Life with Dr. Gina, and The George Espenlaub Show.

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