Will logic puzzles make you smarter? You’ll certainly get better at the puzzles. Whether that carries over to the rest of your life is a harder question, and the research is less encouraging than the marketing.
Getting better at the game isn’t the same as getting smarter
Play any kind of puzzle often and you’ll learn its rules and start spotting its patterns faster. Researchers call the bigger question transfer: does practice at one task improve a different task, or everyday thinking outside the game?
In a 2010 online study, Owen and colleagues had thousands of people train for six weeks. Participants improved on the tasks they trained on, but the researchers found no evidence that this carried over to untrained tests, even closely related ones. A 2016 review by Simons and colleagues looked at the evidence behind brain-training products. It found plenty of evidence that people improve on the tasks they practise, less for closely related tasks, and little for distant tasks or everyday performance. It also pointed out weaknesses in how many of the studies were designed.
Some results are more encouraging, but narrower
The ACTIVE trial followed older adults for ten years. Those who received particular kinds of memory, reasoning or speed training reported less difficulty with some everyday activities than a control group. It’s an interesting result, but it came from structured training programmes in one group of people. It doesn’t tell us that a casual puzzle game has the same effect.
Studies also differ in the games they use, how long people practise, who takes part and what gets measured. One result can’t stand in for every kind of puzzle.
Where that leaves Ponder
Ponder hasn’t been tested as cognitive training or as a health intervention, and we don’t claim it raises IQ, prevents dementia or sharpens your working day. We make it because solving a good puzzle is satisfying. You’ll probably get better at the families you play, and if you enjoy the process, that’s reason enough.
When you next see a big claim about puzzles and the brain, it’s worth asking what was actually measured, and whether the study used anything like the game being sold.