Wordle-dille:Hvorfor elsker vi gåder, og er de gode for vores hjerner?

I de seneste uger er et webbaseret ordpuslespil kaldet Wordle blevet en populær daglig distraktion. Pludselig er millioner af mennesker fokuseret på deres ordforråd af fem-bogstavs ord, og er for nylig blevet opmærksomme på begreber som bogstavsfrekvens og bogstavposition, mens de planlægger de bedste åbningsord og hurtigere løsninger.

For disse mennesker er Wordle fængslende. Tidligere forskning kan hjælpe os med at forstå, hvordan vores hjerner reagerer på ordspil, og hvorfor vi elsker dem.

Wordle er et puslespil til én spiller, der kombinerer elementer fra flere spil, inklusive Scrabble og Battleship. Mine kolleger og jeg har studeret Scrabble som en måde at forstå, hvordan sprog bearbejdes i hjernen, og hvordan denne bearbejdning ændrer sig med erfaring.

Dette er din hjerne på Scrabble

Konkurrencedygtige Scrabble-spillere er folk, der bruger meget tid på at spille Scrabble, konkurrere i Scrabble-turneringer, huske ordlister og øve sig i anagrammering – blande sæt bogstaver for at skabe forskellige ord.

Ligesom skakspillere rangeres konkurrerende Scrabble-spillere i et internationalt ratingsystem baseret på turneringsresultater. Vi rekrutterede konkurrencedygtige spillere fra Scrabble-turneringer og -klubber og gav dem en række opgaver for at forstå, hvordan al denne Scrabble-øvelse og spil ændrer deres mentale processer.

I vores første undersøgelse fandt vi ud af, at konkurrerende Scrabble-spillere genkendte ord hurtigere end dem, der ikke rutinemæssigt spillede Scrabble, især når ord blev præsenteret lodret. Lodret ordpræsentation er usædvanlig på skriftlig engelsk, men almindelig i Scrabble, og konkurrerende spillere er meget gode til at genkende lodrette ord.

Vi fandt også ud af, at Scrabble-spillere hurtigt genkendte ord uden fuldt ud at behandle ordbetydningen. Dette skyldes sandsynligvis, at du i Scrabble skal vide, om forskellige strenge af bogstaver udgør lovlige spil, men du behøver faktisk ikke at vide, hvad disse ord betyder.

We also used brain imaging to study how all those years of intensive practice might have altered brain processes for language in competitive Scrabble players.

We found that when recognizing words and making simple decisions about them, competitive Scrabble players used a different network of brain areas than those who didn't play Scrabble competitively. Scrabble experts made use of brain regions not typically associated with word meaning retrieval, but rather those associated with visual memory and perception.

A Scrabble habit makes you … good at Scrabble

We wondered whether the effects of Scrabble practice that we observed in competitive players have benefits beyond Scrabble. Does playing lots of Scrabble make you good at anything else? The answer seems to be no.

We investigated that question by giving competitive Scrabble players and a group of Scrabble non-experts a task that was similar to Scrabble but used symbols instead of letters. In that task, Scrabble players were no better than anyone else in terms of their processing speed or accuracy.

We also investigated whether Scrabble expertise protects players from the effects of brain aging. Again, the answer seems to be no. Older Scrabble players still show the normal effects of aging, like slower processing speed.

In both Scrabble and Wordle, players need to search their word memory based on letters, shuffle letters across positions to find solutions or plays—the meaning of the words is irrelevant. Because of these similarities, many of the brain processes involved in Scrabble are probably also engaged when solving Wordles.

Our research with people who are not Scrabble experts shows that mental processes start to change quite quickly when people are asked to take on a new word recognition task. That means it's very likely your Wordle habit has already caused slight changes in the brain processes you use to solve the puzzles.

Those changes help you to play Wordle, but probably don't help you with anything else.

Why do some people love puzzles?

Wordle has become a habit for millions, but for others it's not appealing.

There are probably lots of reasons for this, but one explanation could be differences in what people find motivating. Some people enjoy puzzles and thinking challenges more than others. This type of motivation is referred to as need for cognition, and people who have a high need for cognition tend to seek out mental challenges like word games and puzzles.

In Scrabble, there are usually multiple possible plays that could advance the game, but Worldles have a single right answer. With only one Wordle released per day, everyone is solving the same puzzle. The online game's sharing options also allow us to share our results with others without giving the answer away.

That means Wordle is also creating an opportunity for shared experience at a time when many people are feeling disconnected from others. A Wordle habit is not likely to make you smarter or ward off brain aging, but it may give you a daily dose of complex cognition combined with social interaction—and that can be a very good thing.