Often seen as a show of intelligence, the Rubik’s Cube has shocked people for decades. What was once the hottest toy on the market when it was invented by Ernő Rubik in 1974 is now a worldwide organization with leagues and competitions. People see Rubik’s Cubes as a show of a high IQ, but what if I told you that one does not solve a Rubik’s cube because they have a high IQ and strong motor skills, instead they have those assets because they solve Rubik’s cubes.
Decrease Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease: Treatment for these diseases is very expensive and experimental. There has been a definitive link to adults from the ages of 55-93 years old having a lower risk of Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease when completing a puzzle every day. A study published in Geriatric Psychiatry shows to have found a 15% improvement in “Spatial Working Memory” in adults who complete puzzles every day over ones that never attempt puzzles of any kind.
Increased Reaction Time: Puzzles, in particular, Rubik’s Cubes enhance one’s ability to recognize patterns and interpret what their next moves must be. The same Geriatric Psychiatry study shows a direct correlation with faster reaction times in adults who regularly do puzzles with an average of an 8 millisecond faster cognitive reaction time.
Increased Hand-Eye Coordination: When the mind registers what the best next move will be it will only be carried out if the hands are able to keep up with the brain. Learning to solve a Rubik’s cube will increase the connection between your brain and your hands, and once you can solve one fairly easily that is when it is time to train to solve it faster. This must be trained because it is using both sides of your brain at the same time, using the memory and hand-eye at once.
Increase Attention Span: A study published by Baa Bee explains that to solve a Rubik’s Cube one must memorize multiple algorithms and when to implement those movements. When a child begins on Rubik’s Cubes early it trains their brains to concentrate on a task for an extended period and paves the way for strong memory.
Better Problem Solving: A study in Gale Academic Online including 25 subjects, 10 being Rubik’s Cube experts and the remaining 15 being novices. They tested the subject’s ability to adapt to changing environments. The results showed that the expert cubers had a much shorter observation time and were able to come up with solutions faster than novice cubers. Not only were the expert solvers able to adapt and come up with solutions faster than novices, but they were also able to implement their solutions in a more timely manner.
Increase Long Term and Short Term Memory: There is so much to think about when solving a Rubik’s cube and to be able to solve at speed there cannot be any delay. When first starting out with solving Rubik’s Cubes one will learn 5 algorithms to use throughout the solving. But when one decides they want to solve it as fast as they can they must learn 78 different algorithms and what patterns need those algorithms. The solver must have the ability to remember what patterns link with which movements and as I said before there can not be any delay when one wants to solve the cube as fast as possible.
IQ Booster: In a MensHealth article about how to improve one’s IQ the #1 suggestion is to attempt puzzles for about 25 minutes per day. According to their findings, the average adult can increase their IQ by about four points by challenging their brain with various types of puzzles every day. This is because puzzles not only require a good memory but they increase what they call your “working memory” which goes further than just remembering, it is remembering and knowing how to implement what you have learned.
