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Social shapes challenge

A wheen shapes can tell a richt human-like story. Watch the silent clips an pick whit best explains their actions. Aboot 6–8 minutes, free, wi nae sign-up.

Bi the Helibrain teamChecked bi Robert(Inglis), PhD candidate in biophysicsPit oot Last checked

Hou the challenge warks

Watch ilk clip aw the wey through, syne pick the best answer. There are 14 clips. Ye can play a clip again an chynge an answer wi Back. There’s nae time limit for answerin, an nae soond tae turn on.

The animations shaw simple shapes interactin. Yer task is tae infer intentions fae movement, insteid o recognisin a face or mindin a fact. The original Social Shapes Test wis developed tae study this pairt o social unnerstandin [1].

Hou tae read yer result

Yer result counts answers that match the original item key. It’s nae an IQ score or a measure o yer worth, empathy or relationships. We compare results wi ither Helibrain players uisin broad groups. While there are ower few eligible runs, we shaw the nummer o players sae far insteid o makin up a norm.

These veesitors arenae a representative sample. Familiarity wi the clips, leid, attention an playin them again can aw affect the result. Gien it anither try is welcome, but kenning the stories maks a repeat try easier.

Whit the research shawes an disnae shaw

Studies o the Social Shapes Test back its uise for studyin social unnerstandin [1][2]. Published wirk anely reports modest agreement atween twa short forms, sae ae result shoud be read wi care [2].

This page is a shortened adaptation: we picked the first 14 scored items fae the authors’ final 23-item set. We didnae reproduce either published 14-item parallel form, an their reliability estimates dinnae validate this selection. Our presentation lets ye replay an gang back. We uise oor ain player comparisons, nae the papers’ norms.

This activity cannae diagnose ony condition or tell ye hou ye behave in a real conversation.

Animation credit

Social Shapes Test animations an questions bi Myles I. Brown an colleagues, fae Social Shapes Test Development and Validation, licensed unner Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. The animation files are unaltered. Helibrain picked a shorter set, trimmed the spare spaces roond the questions, an biggit this browser presentation. The authors dinnae endorse this page.

Aften-asked questions

Is this an empathy test?

It’s a narrow task aboot interpretin actions an intentions. Empathy an everyday social skills involve mair nor readin a shape animation.

Is the challenge free?

Aye. The questions an result are free, wi nae accoont. The Helibrain app has separate free an paid plans.

See aw 43 free brain tests

Want tae wark on this ilka day? The Helibrain app (in Inglis for noo) has a free plan an paid plans.

Cite this page: Social shapes challenge. Helibrain. 2026. https://helibrain.com/sco/social-shapes-challenge. CC BY 4.0.

How this test works

This challenge asks you to read intentions from movement. You watch 14 short, silent cartoons in which simple shapes move around and seem to chase, help or leave each other out. After each clip, pick the best of four descriptions. You can replay a clip, and there is no time limit for answering. Your score is the number of answers that match the original answer key. Animations of moving shapes have been used in psychology since 1944.

Version 1 · Cite this test:

Helibrain (2026). Social shapes challenge, v1. https://helibrain.com/social-shapes-challenge/methods

Full method →

Soorces

  1. Brown MI et al. (2019). The Social Shapes Test: A new measure o social intelligence, mentalizin, an theory o mind. Personality and Individual Differences. doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.01.035
  2. Brown MI, Heck PR, Chabris CF (2024). The Social Shapes Test as a self-administered, online measure o social intelligence: Twa studies. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. doi.org/10.1007/s10803-023-05901-2
  3. Brown MI an colleagues. Social Shapes Test Development and Validation: original materials an licence. osf.io/sqxy6/

How we made this page: scrieved bi the Helibrain team fae the studies listed abuin, an checked bi Robert(Inglis) (PhD candidate in biophysics) on 11/4/2026. We update it when the soorces chynges.