Why solving puzzles is good for your brain- and your work
To celebrate the release of our new short form team game series, Unpuzzled, we are publishing a suite of articles on the ways that problem solving games and puzzles can benefit both your brain and your actual job.
We will make the case for puzzles and problem solving activities being much more than entertainment, consider the various positive impacts they can have on work performance, and recommend integrating them into your workplace culture.
In this first edition, we’ll start by taking a look at:
How puzzles can train specific brain areas;
The neuroscience behind the "ah-ha!" moment; and
How this mental training can translate into better performance at work
Solving puzzles can improve key brain functions
“The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good.”
At first glance, this quote from Carl Sagan seems to hold water- the concept of neuroplasticity has been rolling around for long enough and basically everyone has read Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman. As with our muscles, there is no doubt that regularly exercising certain mental functions leads to a brain that makes connections both faster and stronger. Similar to physical exercise, repetition and consistency are key, and, more often than not, we enjoy it more when we do it with others.
Now, not to cast any shade on Carl, who, as one of the most famously brilliant astronomers & cosmologists ever, was no stranger to mental exertion, but as anyone who has engaged in strenuous exercise will know, muscles generally don’t feel good when in use, not at all- in fact, they usually hurt. Perhaps astronomers only play golf?
The brain-as-muscle analogy is certainly a useful one when thinking about how to improve it. As with the body, different parts of the brain do different things, and for most of the population, this means that the left hemisphere takes care of activities like language processing and logical reasoning, whilst the right lights up when tasked with visual reasoning and orientation processing problems.
So, while solving word games like crosswords and riddles might mostly work the left hemisphere, a jigsaw or maze is more likely to target the right. However, most problems or puzzles will engage both sides of the brain to some extent, and, at risk of overextending our training metaphor, a good program will include a mix of both isolation and compound movements.
To get us started, here is a (relatively easy) example of a puzzle that targets key areas typically associated with your left brain, relying on picture-word associations and deductive reasoning to arrive at a single word-based answer. This type of puzzle is known as a rebus equation:
Image @100pointchallenge
Here’s one for the right brain, focusing on visualisation and the imagined orientation of objects in space:
Rearrange the toothpicks into the number 9 without breaking or bending them.
Image @100pointchallenge
Both of the above are fairly straightforward examples and you might have solved them with relatively little effort or discomfort. If so, try this harder one:
Dani is a bit of a weirdo. They like some things, but not others. For example, they like reef diving but not sky diving, drinking beer, but not ale, and think llamas are great but hate alpacas. Which do you think Dani likes best- Lamborghinis or Ferraris?
If you haven’t seen the problem before, then solving that one (which incidentally involves the use of both brain hemispheres) probably resulted in a touch more strain, and might have even made you sweat.
If you didn’t solve it, you are probably feeling a bit frustrated, and will irritatedly scroll for the answers to try make that feeling go away. If you got it right, chances are you are feeling pretty good about yourself.
In fact, the higher your perceived exertion in solving a puzzle, the higher your sense of satisfaction in finding the answer. This is particularly the case where a ‘meta’ component is added to the problem- where interrelated answers result in a much more complex and layered game which, consequently, requires more involved brain activity.
So could Carl actually be right? Can the brain feel good when in use?
2. Solving puzzles improves your mood and lowers your stress levels
It’s a drive & reward system tapped into by the best in tech, in business, and also in workplace culture - no matter who or where you are, dopamine gets you to do stuff and feel good about it.
Dopamine is the neurotransmitter involved in reward-seeking, motivation, memory, and attention (1). Or, for those who prefer an acronym, in the three ‘d’s: drive, dedication, & delight. It’s part of the process that leads to a feeling of reward when we solve a problem like the examples above, but the effects can be even more prominent when smaller puzzles interrelate with a meta-problem, producing what pop culture often refers to as the ‘ah-ha’ moment.
We’ve all been there- after a purgatory of wading through torrential rain and fog, suddenly the clouds part, sunshine streams down and you bathe in the warmth of newfound insight- the solution presents itself, seemingly all on its own.
It’s incredibly powerful stuff. Beyond driving Archimedes from his tub, the “eureka” moment has inspired a huge body of scientific research using modern techniques like fMRI to determine exactly what is going on in our brains when we have these sorts of meta moments. The “eureka” insight has been shown to stimulate a deep part of the brain involved in dopamine regulation called the nucleus accumbens (2), and can bring about a profound sense of ease, pleasure (3), and often leaves you feeling certain about the solution (4).
It turns out that Carl was right afterall- “Understanding is joyous.”
But how do these benefits translate to the workplace?
3. Solving puzzles is training for solving real work problems (or not)
Now that we’ve had a look at the benefits of solving puzzles for mental acuity and just generally feeling good, it’s clear that some of the skills and mental models useful in solving puzzles could translate to producing real work outcomes.
But in addition to simply developing the types of skills that we’ve already discussed, the benefits of solving puzzles isn’t confined to our own performance. When done in a group, team problem solving can have an even greater impact on workplace success, with a focus on relational skills- how you communicate, persuade, negotiate, or agree or disagree respectfully.
They can foster togetherness by striving towards a common goal, teach us to create opportunities and to celebrate each others’ wins. This can be particularly good for teams who don’t know each other well as it takes the pressure off the relationship exchange by providing a common purpose that is achievable in a time-bound way.
However, perhaps the more valuable lessons arise from the things you can’t solve- as in, when you fail to get the answer. Combining reward-based risk taking and play is another great way to foster trust within a team, and doing so in a context where the only consequence of failure is a loss of bragging rights is a great way to acclimatise employees to offering out-of-the-box suggestions, championing unfavourable opinions, or just speaking up at all.
The great Carl Sagan, via @synctuition.com
In fact, there is a strong correlation between success and willingness to fail. According to a McKinsey study, respondents from successful organisations are more than twice as likely as their peers elsewhere to strongly agree that their employees are rewarded for taking appropriate risks (5). Some companies have gone as far as requesting that c-levels recount their most recent failure in a quarterly review - if their mistake didn’t cost the company money, then they didn’t receive their quarterly bonuses.
Whilst high risk-reward scenarios are more likely to appear at a certain level of decision-making, how do you successfully integrate this kind of mental training organisation-wide?
Our next Unpuzzled piece will involve a deep dive on how problem solving games can foster a safe-to-fail culture, from c-level all the way to rank and file.
References:
1. Arias-Carrión O, Pŏppel E. Dopamine, learning, and reward-seeking behavior. Acta Neurobiol Exp (Wars). 2007;67(4):481-8. PMID: 18320725.
2. Ultra-high-field fMRI insights on insight: Neural correlates of the Aha!-moment, Martin Tik, Ronald Sladky, Caroline Di Bernardi Luft, David Willinger, André Hoffmann, Michael J Banissy, Joydeep Bhattacharya, Christian Windischberger, First published: 17 April 2018
3. Topolinski, S., & Reber, R. (2010). Gaining Insight Into the “Aha” Experience. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(6), 402–405.
4. Shen, W., Yuan, Y., Liu, C., & Luo, J. (2016). In search of the ‘Aha!' experience: Elucidating the emotionality of insight problem-solving. British Journal of Psychology, 107(2), 281–298.
5. Jonathan Deakin, Laura LaBerge, and Barbara O’Beirne, “Five Moves to Make during a Digital Transformation,” McKinsey & Company, April 2019.
Answers:
PEN + (GUN - N) + (INBOX - BOX) = PEN + GU + IN 🐧
Rearrange to symbol IX - roman numerals for number 9
Ferraris - Dani only likes words with double letters