Under de senaste veckorna har ett webbaserat ordpussel som heter Wordle blivit en populär daglig distraktion. Plötsligt är miljontals människor fokuserade på sitt ordförråd med fembokstavsord, och är nyligen medvetna om begrepp som bokstavsfrekvens och bokstavsposition när de planerar om de bästa inledande orden och snabbare lösningar.

För dessa människor är Wordle fängslande. Tidigare forskning kan hjälpa oss att förstå hur våra hjärnor reagerar på ordspel och varför vi älskar dem.

Wordle är ett enspelarpussel som kombinerar element från flera spel, inklusive Scrabble och Battleship. Jag och mina kollegor har studerat Scrabble som ett sätt att förstå hur språk bearbetas i hjärnan och hur den bearbetningen förändras med erfarenhet.

Det här är din hjärna på Scrabble

Konkurrenskraftiga Scrabble-spelare är människor som spenderar mycket tid på att spela Scrabble, tävlar i Scrabble-turneringar, memorerar ordlistor och övar anagram – blandar uppsättningar av bokstäver för att skapa olika ord.

Precis som schackspelare rankas konkurrenskraftiga Scrabble-spelare i ett internationellt betygssystem baserat på turneringsresultat. Vi rekryterade konkurrenskraftiga spelare från Scrabble-turneringar och klubbar och gav dem en rad uppgifter för att förstå hur allt detta Scrabble-träning och spel förändrar deras mentala processer.

I vår första studie fann vi att konkurrenskraftiga Scrabble-spelare kände igen ord snabbare än de som inte rutinmässigt spelade Scrabble, särskilt när ord presenterades vertikalt. Vertikal ordpresentation är ovanligt på skriftlig engelska men vanligt i Scrabble, och tävlingsspelare är mycket bra på att känna igen vertikala ord.

Vi fann också att Scrabble-spelare snabbt kände igen ord utan att helt bearbeta ordets betydelse. Det beror förmodligen på att du i Scrabble behöver veta om olika bokstäver utgör lagliga spel, men du behöver faktiskt inte veta vad de orden 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.