Brain teaser game to stimulate your temporal lobes
Do you know where words are stored in your brain?
In your temporal lobe!
As you know, the brain has two sides (two hemispheres) connected by the corpus callosum. So you have one temporal lobe on each side of the brain.
If you are right-handed, your language is stored mostly in your left temporal lobe. If you are left-handed, you are not so lateralized and your language is stored a bit on both sides of your brain in the temporal lobes.
Words in the brain are not stored randomly. They seemed to be quite organized. Research has shown that words that are often heard together (such as salt and pepper) or words that share some meaning (such as nurse and doctor) are connected or associated in the brain. Once you hear one, the other is activated.
Here is a mental exercise whose aim is to stimulate the connections or associations between words in your temporal lobe.
In the left column you have a pair of words. Your goal is to find a third word that is connected or associated with both of these two words.
The first pair is PIANO and LOCK. The answer is KEY. The word key is connected with both the word piano and the word lock: there are KEYS on a piano and you use a KEY to lock doors.
Key is what is called a homograph: a word that has more than one meaning but is always spelled the same.
Ready to stimulate connections in your temporal lobe(s)? Enjoy!
(Solutions are below. Please don’t check them until you have tried to solve all the pairs!)
1. LOCK — PIANO
2. SHIP — CARD
3. TREE — CAR
4. SCHOOL — EYE
5. PILLOW — COURT
6. RIVER — MONEY
7. BED — PAPER
8. ARMY — WATER
9. TENNIS — NOISE
10. EGYPTIAN — MOTHER
11. SMOKER — PLUMBER
— This article was written by Pascale Michelon, Ph. D., for SharpBrains.com. Dr. Michelon has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and has worked as a Research Scientist at Washington University in Saint Louis, in the Psychology Department. She conducted several research projects to understand how the brain makes use of visual information and memorizes facts.
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SOLUTIONS
1. LOCK — PIANO > KEY
2. SHIP — CARD > Deck
3. TREE — CAR > Trunk
4. SCHOOL — EYE > Pupil (Exam and Private are also possible)
5. PILLOW — COURT > Case
6. RIVER — MONEY > Bank (Flow is also possible)
7. BED — PAPER > Sheet
8. ARMY — WATER > Tank
9. TENNIS — NOISE > Racket
10. EGYPTIAN — MOTHER > Mummy
11. SMOKER — PLUMBER > Pipe
Next brain teaser:
- 14. Join this party for polyglots
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As a teacher, I think we need to use more homographs in our classrooms to engage our students in a fun activity and to enable those same students to make more temporal brain connections.
anybody else think “butt” for the last one?–my connection was cigarette butt and plumber’s crack…
I have “Queen” for 10…and “crack” for 11.
Sore loser? But can bed & paper be: “mate?”
Hi all,
Queen sounds good for 10. Not sure about mate for 7 though?
It looks like Myles and Lisa are on the same page for 11…Never thought about that one!
And yes, homographs could be a great tool in the classroom. Good comment.
Pascale Michelon
PaperMate — it is a brand of pen
And for the divergent thinkers, how about -
2 — hold
8 — fight
For the last one, I wrote “joint,” it works for both doesn’t it? Grin.
#2 — board, i.e. shipboard + cardboard.
For 8, I came up with “canteen” — since most Army bases have a canteen and you can put water in one. Like Carol, I also had “board” for #2.
Oops — fight doesn’t work for 8, since it’s the same word in both contexts.
As a 53-year-old software designer. I earn my living with my brain. I never stop learning, although I *am* slowing down as I get older. I expected to find this test easy, and I didn’t. Despite the fact that several of the answer were in a foreign language (American), I did poorly. I will be looking to improve my performance in this area. Any pointers on how?
I’m not sure where you live, but try taking a course eg through Open University in a subject that interests you but is not directly related to your career.
I am 50 and have always worked in Insurance. A few years ago I decided to learn a little about Psychology. I started one course and was hooked. I am now committed to the full BSc Honours degree, with a view to working as a counsellor, paid or voluntary, after I retire.
Even if I never directly work in the field, my mind has been stretched and stimulated — sometimes beyond comfortable limits.
I have also met some great people of all ages (at summer schools) and have a new sense of purpose.
As for my poor old brain, while I still forget where I put my specs, in some ways it’s better than ever.
I’ve also read somewhere that learning a musical instrument (or a new one if you already play), can also stimulate various mental centrs.
Maybe that’s next.……
I also immediately thought butt for #11. I didn’t even think to question my choice until I saw the “correct” answer. Now I’m embarrassed (no pun intended).
I love these little brain teasers. I’m by no means good at them, but I did get a headache on a quiet friday afternoon doing as many as I could. I think this is fascinating and I’ve always thought that the human race does not best utilise its tools, i.e. our brains.
For #5 I had fight.
What about doing this in reverse, giving the answers and coming up with the other two words?
Hello Dennis, that’s what counts, simply to try! Now, try to manage your energies…no need to get a headache.
Jeff, that’s a great idea. Do you want to propose a target answer?
This was a challenge, but after about 10 minutes, I got 8 correct. I had “taps” for #8 and totally spaced on #2.
Enjoyed and learned. Where can I obtain tests like this one so I can continue the exercises? Thanks
Was really stumped by this little quiz, and amazed at my my inability to answer a single one correctly. I only spent a few minutes and when a word wasn’t “right there” to pop up I moved on. I then started over and put more thought into it, and only then was I able to force a few choices. Again, none that matched the provided answers. Is this because I don’t think in this manner, or something else? I’m really taken aback by this result. I’m right-handed by the way! ;-)
Hello Eileen-great work!
Lee: please take a look at our Teasers section.
John: don’t let a little challenge take you aback. You probably stressed out a bit given the novelty of the task, which then made the task even more difficult. Btw, if your answers work, they work-they don’t need to be precisely the same as listed above. So, relax, and try this and the other teasers when you want some extra brain exercise…not some extra worry.
Hi Sandra,
I had fight for 5 also. Maybe Sandras think alike?
I figured the answer for number 8 as “gun”, as in water gun. And plenty of guns in the army… Would that be acceptable?
Hi Chris,
Yes I think that gun works for number 8.
I am glad to see that this exercise generated a lot of interest.
Remember that the goal is to stimulate the brain. Getting the right answer is not that important…!
And it is always nice to see that we don’t all think the same way. The world would be really dull if that was not the case!