Perceptual Awareness Scale Test

In just 3 minutes, the Perceptual Awareness Scale Test presents 15 sensory imagery questions across visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory experience. Your result highlights how vividly different senses shape mental representation, supporting self-reflection about perception and memory.

Questions: 153 minutes

Perceptual Awareness Scale Test: situation and reply bubbles

October 2, 2025October 2, 2025Material has been updatedOctober 2, 2025Material has been published

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Sensory-Perceptual Awareness LevelSPAL

Measures how strongly a person is aware of and attuned to sensory perceptions of the surrounding world.

example score27/60

27/60Moderateexample score

0 – 20Low

21 – 40Moderate

41 – 60High

A score of 27 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting an average level of sensory-perceptual awareness and sensitivity.

GustatoryG

Measures how strongly taste sensations contribute to a person’s moment-to-moment perception of the surrounding world.

example score3/12

3/12Lowexample score

0 – 5Low

6 – 9Moderate

10 – 12High

A score of 3 falls in the Low range, suggesting taste sensations play a relatively minor role in your overall perceptual awareness compared to other sensory cues.

OlfactoryO

Assesses the extent to which smell sensations are salient and used in perceiving and processing information.

example score4/12

4/12Lowexample score

0 – 4Low

5 – 8Moderate

9 – 12High

A score of 4 indicates low salience of olfactory cues, with smell sensations typically playing a minor role in moment-to-moment awareness and interpretation.

TactileT

Measures how strongly a person relies on touch and bodily sensations when perceiving and processing information.

example score8/12

8/12Moderate tactile focusexample score

0 – 5Low tactile focus

6 – 9Moderate tactile focus

10 – 12High tactile focus

A score of 8 indicates a moderate tendency to notice and use tactile and bodily sensations as part of everyday awareness and understanding.

AuditoryA

Measures the extent to which a person predominantly processes and recalls information through hearing.

example score4/12

4/12Lowexample score

0 – 4Low

5 – 8Moderate

9 – 12High

A score of 4 falls in the Low range, suggesting auditory cues are a less prominent channel for how you take in and remember information compared with other modalities.

VisualV

Measures the extent to which a person tends to perceive and process information through visual images.

example score8/12

8/12Moderate visual orientationexample score

0 – 5Low visual orientation

6 – 9Moderate visual orientation

10 – 12High visual orientation

A score of 8 falls in the Moderate visual orientation range, suggesting a noticeable but not dominant reliance on visual imagery in perception and memory.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Clients in therapy

41%OF USERS

People in counseling take it to quickly see how present they are “here and now” and how clearly they notice sensations, thoughts, and emotions.

Mindfulness and self-growth seekers

34%OF USERS

People focused on improving attention and awareness use it as a fast check of how fully they perceive their body and surroundings.

Psychology students and trainees

25%OF USERS

Learners use it to practice psychological assessment and understand differences in perceptual awareness across individuals.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Shaded area — where most people score

Dot — the average

You — your score lands on each curve after the test— your score, after the test

Level of sensory-perceptual consciousnessLosc

You?

Average19.3

Typical rangeTypical11.6 – 27

Possible0 – 60

GustatoryG

You?

Average5.5

Typical rangeTypical3.4 – 7.6

Possible0 – 12

OlfactoryO

You?

Average3.7

Typical rangeTypical2.1 – 5.3

Possible0 – 12

TactileT

You?

Average5.9

Typical rangeTypical3.8 – 8

Possible0 – 12

AuditoryA

You?

Average5.9

Typical rangeTypical3.9 – 7.9

Possible0 – 12

VisualV

You?

Average9

Typical rangeTypical7.5 – 10.4

Possible0 – 12

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

- No image at all
- Barely noticeable image
- More pronounced image
- Clearly defined image
- Extremely vivid image (as if real)
- No mental image
- Barely noticeable mental image
- More distinct mental image
- Clearly distinct mental image
- Very vivid mental image (lifelike image)
- No mental image
- Faint mental image
- Moderately clear mental image
- Clearly defined mental image
- Extremely vivid mental image (as if real)

These are 3 of the 15 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Perceptual Awareness Scale Test - Description and methodology of the test

representational system

For readers curious about how sensory experience enters thought, the Perceptual Awareness Scale Test offers a structured look at sensory-perceptual awareness. It suits people exploring how sensory information may be weighted in everyday perception, thought, and memory, and whether their processing pattern feels more dependent on particular kinds of input. As a sensory perception assessment, it describes a profile rather than general ability.

What This Sensory Awareness Test Explores

Using mental imagery, this sensory imagery assessment samples sights, sounds, touches, smells, and tastes. It describes sensory-perceptual awareness and information processing across six scales:

Olfactory (0-12) measures smell salience in perception; higher scores suggest a developed sense of smell: Low 0-4, Moderate 5-8, High 9-12.
Sensory-Perceptual Awareness Level (0-60) measures overall sensory sensitivity: Low 0-20, Moderate 21-40, High 41-60.
Gustatory (0-12) measures taste salience; higher scores suggest pronounced taste sensitivity: Low 0-5, Moderate 6-9, High 10-12.
Tactile (0-12) measures bodily-sensation processing: Low tactile focus 0-5, Moderate tactile focus 6-9, High tactile focus 10-12.
Auditory (0-12) measures verbal or sound perception and memory: Low 0-4, Moderate 5-8, High 9-12.
Visual (0-12) measures reliance on visual imagery in thought and memory: Low visual orientation 0-5, Moderate visual orientation 6-9, High visual orientation 10-12.

Methodology and Scientific Basis

Each item offers a sensory experience with five ordered choices, from no mental image to a vivid or lifelike representation. Visual prompts use scenes; auditory prompts use birdsong and waves; tactile prompts involve contact; smell and taste prompts use familiar examples. There are no right answers: responses record subjective vividness.

The format creates a perceptual awareness questionnaire focused on sensory-perceptual awareness and modality-specific processing, with imagery serving as the response route. Its closest named source is Sheehan's shortened mental-imagery instrument (1967), derived from Betts's earlier work. Conceptually, this online questionnaire is consistent with Sheehan's shortened instrument, but it is not presented as an adaptation of that instrument. The Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire and Schifferstein's cross-modal research support treating vividness as a modality-specific experience.

Scores are reported by scale and level band; higher values indicate stronger self-reported sensory emphasis or imagery in each modality. Because displayed bands are descriptive and the weighting formula is unspecified, points per answer cannot be inferred from ranges; mood, attention, memory, familiarity, and self-awareness can affect responses, so read the result as a current snapshot rather than a fixed trait.

Author: George A. Gescheider, Nicholas A. Macmillan

Literature:

Sheehan, Peter Winston. (1967). A shortened form of Betts' questionnaire upon mental imagery. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 23(3), 386-389. 10.1002/1097-4679%28196707%2923%3A3%3C386%3A%3AAID-JCLP2270230328%3E3.0.CO%3B2-S
Betts, George Herbert. (1909). The distribution and functions of mental imagery. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, Contributions to Education, No. 26.
Andrade, Jackie, Jon May, Catherine Deeprose, Sarah-Jane Baugh, and Giorgio Ganis. (2014). Assessing vividness of mental imagery: The Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire. British Journal of Psychology, 105(4), 547-563. 10.1111/bjop.12050
Schifferstein, H. N. J. (2009). Comparing mental imagery across the sensory modalities. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 28(4), 371-388. 10.2190/IC.28.4.g

Updated: 2025-10-02