People love puzzles.

From riddles to crossword puzzles to smartphone apps that let you compete with friends, lots of people seem to relish the challenge of puzzles and the thrill that comes when they solve them.

Most people just consider them to be a pleasant diversion, but some believe that playing these games can help improve and maintain cognitive abilities. So does asking your brain to work through challenging problems help you in the long run, or are they just fun time killers?

Issac Kim, junior in ACES, said that she used to play Words With Friends, which is similar to Scrabble, and Hanging With Friends, similar to Hangman, on her phone relatively often. However, Kim did not play these games with the goal of improving her mental skills.

“I liked that you could connect with friends, and that they were really fast … you could just take your turn in a few seconds,” she said, adding that she didn’t expect the game to improve her linguistic abilities at all.

Liz Denz, sophomore in LAS, has been playing Sudoku since she was in eighth grade. In Sudoku, players must fill a nine-by-nine grid so that each column and each three-by-three square contains the numbers one through nine. Denz said that she thought Sudoku might have some limited benefits in regards to her cognitive abilities.

“It helps you with logic abilities I guess. It’s not mind-blowingly helpful, but it’s definitely better than if you just did nothing but sit around and watch TV,” she said.

Walter Boot, a University alumnus and associate professor of psychology at Florida State University, confirmed Kim’s suspicions.

Boot has conducted research on the game Brain Age for Nintendo DS.

Brain Age is made up of a series of simple puzzles that ask players to call on their skills in the areas of reading, math and logic.

The makers of the game claim that playing it for a few minutes a day will help preserve your “brain age,” or help you maintain cognitive ability into old age. Boot said that his research has not found that Brain Age was effective in this area.

Boot said he was not surprised at the result, as there is little evidence that these types of games are effective in preserving cognitive ability.

Boot went on to say that, although some studies have shown that people who play games like Sudoku or crossword puzzles maintain their cognitive abilities longer than average, there is still little to suggest that the games themselves are causing this.

“It’s possible that people who remain more cognitively intact in old age tend to be the people who take care of themselves in a number of ways that preserve cognition beyond playing games like Sudoku and crossword puzzles,” he explained.

Boot said that if these kinds of games do help improve your cognitive abilities, the improvements would be extremely limited.

“If you practice crossword puzzles every day, you’re going to get really good at crossword puzzles. If you want to improve your grades, it’s best to study. If you want to improve your driving, practice your driving skills,” Boot said. “It’s best to practice the things you want to improve rather than play a game and hope it helps.”