En las últimas semanas, un rompecabezas de palabras basado en la web llamado Wordle se ha convertido en una distracción diaria popular. De repente, millones de personas se centran en su vocabulario de palabras de cinco letras y son conscientes de conceptos como la frecuencia de las letras y la posición de las letras mientras elaboran estrategias sobre las mejores palabras iniciales y soluciones más rápidas.

Para estas personas, Wordle es cautivador. Las investigaciones anteriores pueden ayudarnos a comprender cómo responde nuestro cerebro a los juegos de palabras y por qué nos encantan.

Wordle es un rompecabezas para un solo jugador que combina elementos de varios juegos, incluidos Scrabble y Battleship. Mis colegas y yo hemos estudiado Scrabble como una forma de comprender cómo se procesa el lenguaje en el cerebro y cómo ese procesamiento cambia con la experiencia.

Este es tu cerebro en Scrabble

Los jugadores competitivos de Scrabble son personas que pasan mucho tiempo jugando Scrabble, compitiendo en torneos de Scrabble, memorizando listas de palabras y practicando anagramas, mezclando conjuntos de letras para crear diferentes palabras.

Al igual que los jugadores de ajedrez, los jugadores competitivos de Scrabble se clasifican en un sistema de clasificación internacional basado en los resultados del torneo. Reclutamos jugadores competitivos de torneos y clubes de Scrabble y les asignamos una serie de tareas para comprender cómo toda esta práctica y juego de Scrabble altera sus procesos mentales.

En nuestro primer estudio, descubrimos que los jugadores competitivos de Scrabble reconocían las palabras más rápido que aquellos que no jugaban Scrabble de manera rutinaria, particularmente cuando las palabras se presentaban verticalmente. La presentación vertical de palabras es inusual en el inglés escrito pero común en Scrabble, y los jugadores competitivos son muy buenos para reconocer palabras verticales.

También descubrimos que los jugadores de Scrabble reconocían rápidamente las palabras sin procesar completamente el significado de las palabras. Probablemente esto se deba a que en Scrabble necesitas saber si las diferentes cadenas de letras forman jugadas legales, pero en realidad no necesitas saber qué significan esas palabras.

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.