Why is collecting jigsaw puzzles for adultsuseful for adults
Any mother will say with confidence that jigsaw puzzles for adults are useful for the development of the brain and fine motor skills of the baby. But do the jigsaw puzzles for adults somehow affect the adults themselves? Is it possible to "pump" the brain with the help of such simulators, or are jigsaw puzzles for adults nothing more than a pleasant pastime?
To answer all these questions, we will turn to real scientific research.
What and how do jigsaw puzzles for adults develop?
Any jigsaw puzzles for adults stimulate brain activity. The speed of the thought process directly depends on how many neural connections are involved at the moment. With regular load on the brain, emotional stability also increases.
According to psychologists, mosaics, jigsaw puzzles for adults and other simple jigsaw puzzles for adults in childhood develop attention, logic, imaginative thinking and fine motor skills. The child learns to connect parts and the whole, remembers ornaments, colors and shades. But for adults, collecting jigsaw puzzles for adults also has its undeniable advantages.
Memory Enhancement
When assembling a jigsaw puzzles for adults , it is necessary to constantly reproduce the final result in memory - the finished picture. And imagine which element can stand in this or that place. This strengthens the existing connections between brain cells and increases the generation of new ones. As a result, the speed of thinking increases and short-term memory develops.
In the 80s of the last century, people with Alzheimer's disease were strongly recommended to collect pictures from jigsaw puzzles for adults . Doctors suggested that this could help stop the decline of brain activity.
Developing Ingenuity
Regular jigsaw puzzles for adults collection teaches you to predict and test possible options for action, to develop your own strategy through a systematic approach, trial and error. This is how alternative thinking develops and the general skill of solving problems is formed. In addition, jigsaw puzzles for adults significantly improve spatial and visual thinking.
Supporting the entire thought process
While the left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for analytics and logical thinking, the right hemisphere is responsible for all creative and artistic abilities. When it comes to jigsaw puzzles for adults , the left hemisphere sees the end result as a whole, while the right hemisphere looks for the path that each small piece will take to become the big picture. Therefore, it is conventionally believed that it is easier to assemble a mosaic for people with a developed right hemisphere, because they are more inclined to put together a whole from disparate parts. However, regular training develops both hemispheres. When assembling a picture, all brain functions work in unison, which significantly increases its performance.
Production of dopamine
When solving any jigsaw puzzles for adults, the hormone dopamine is produced. Sometimes it is mistakenly called the hormone of pleasure and happiness, but this is not entirely true. Dopamine is responsible for motivational and evaluative processes in the human brain and is the initiator of the reward system. Simply put, dopamine gives the effect of satisfaction from performing a particular task, and the feeling of pleasure is only a possible consequence of its production.
Since collecting jigsaw puzzles for adults not only has a positive effect on memory and concentration, but also gives a sense of satisfaction and the joy of victory, we can draw a conditional parallel: the more jigsaw puzzles for adults a person solves, the higher his dopamine level and the easier it is for him to solve such jigsaw puzzles for adults later. That is why you want to assemble even the largest and most difficult jigsaw puzzles for adults with many pieces to the end. And then take on the next one!
Historical reference. The first jigsaw puzzles for adults appeared at the end of the XVIII century in London. Cartographer John Spilsbury made a kind of textbook for geography students: he transferred the drawn map of the world to a blackboard and sawed it along the borders of states. The students had to connect the countries correctly, again making one large map.
Stress Relief
jigsaw puzzles for adults not only activate brain activity, but also help you relax. This works, like any other meditation, by distraction: while a person is focused on putting together the jigsaw puzzles for adults , he does not think about his problems. Solving puzzles after a hard day can relieve anxiety and help you find a positive attitude.
Disputes about the practical benefits of jigsaw puzzles for adults
A logical question: if collecting many details into one picture has such a positive effect on the brain, then is it possible to increase your IQ or prevent senile dementia?
In the late 90s of the XX century, scientist Patrick Vissler from the University of Ulm in Germany tested a hundred adults. The subjects had to assemble the mosaic daily for at least an hour for 5 weeks. Each of them passed tests to assess abilities before and after the experiment.
As a result of the study, Fissler found that such jigsaw puzzles for adults stimulate many visuospatial functions: working memory, flexibility and speed of thinking, and the ability to perceive. The scientist concluded that daily jigsaw jigsaw puzzles for adults significantly improve individual brain functions, and the more complex the jigsaw puzzles for adults, the better.
Modern research suggests that there is a so-called "long-range transfer effect", when you practice one skill, and at the same time develop a completely different one. So, scientists managed to find out that regular training in the future can significantly increase the speed of solving jigsaw puzzles for adults. In other words, if you often solve jigsaw puzzles for adults, you will do it faster and faster each time. But how does this skill affect IQ levels?
Historical reference. In tsarist Russia, puzzles were called in the German manner - puselya. They were a popular parlor entertainment, on a par with card games, and consisted of an average of only 50-100 elements. In the Soviet period, puzzles were replaced by constructorsand prefabricated 3D models of military and aviation equipment. Classic puzzles reappeared on sale only in the late 80s.
The antagonist of theories about the benefits of jigsaw puzzles for adults is psychotherapist Dan Simons from the University of Illinois. His article, published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, says that no scientific work supporting the positive effects of jigsaw puzzles for adults on the brain meets generally accepted standards for a full-fledged study. Most of the conclusions made are premature due to the insufficient size of the control group of subjects, their incorrect sampling and selective approach to the results. According to Simons, each researcher is more wishful thinking.
Meanwhile, according to a survey conducted in 2014 in the United States, many Americans are confident that solving jigsaw puzzles for adults, crosswords, participating in quizzes and other training for the brain can improve its performance. As the population ages and becomes increasingly concerned about cognitive decline, not only are classic puzzles such as jigsaw puzzles for adults growing in popularity, but virtual brain training apps are also emerging. Some developers seriously declare that such programs can prevent senile memory impairment, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
What is guaranteed to be good about jigsaw puzzles for adults
It is too early to say which of the scientists is right. For sure, research will continue to be carried out. And it is not so important to us. In any case, collecting jigsaw puzzles for adults and solving puzzles is probably much more useful than, for example, mindlessly scrolling through the same type of feed on social networks. In addition, it is impossible not to agree that jigsaw puzzles for adults are a great form of leisure.
Interesting fact: the largest puzzle in the world was released by Kodak in 2020. It consisted of 51,300 elements, and when assembled it reached 8.7 m by 1.9 m.
Undeniable advantages of puzzles:
- You can collect them not only alone, but also in a company. This is a simple and effective way to captivate the whole family with a common interesting activity.
- jigsaw puzzles for adults relax, distract from pressing problems, and give the brain the opportunity to reboot.
- jigsaw puzzles for adults are the happiness of a perfectionist. The combination of many disparate fragments into a single whole, the perfection of the assembled picture gives a feeling of special pleasure.
- jigsaw puzzles for adults are suitable for repeated use: the same picture can be assembled several times, training speed. They take up little space and do not require additional devices. All you need is a flat surface.
- This is always a great gift idea. Activities such as jigsaw puzzles for adults, mosaics, and board games will delight people of all ages. A child can be presented with children's soft puzzles or puzzles depicting their favorite cartoon characters, and adults can be surprised by the size of the puzzle and its theme.
Do you like to collect jigsaw puzzles for adults? What do you do with them then?
Comments
Post a Comment