Fun brain teaser to test your cognitive skills during International Brain Teaser Month

Mem­o­ry relies most­ly on the tem­po­ral lobes (see green area) and also the frontal lobes (red), so those are the areas that will get some good neu­ronal acti­va­tion when read­ers raised in the US try to remem­ber the miss­ing words in the Amer­i­can proverbs below.

Now, if you were raised out­side the US and are not famil­iar with those proverbs you will have to use your rea­son­ing skills more than your mem­o­ry skills — In that case, frontal lobe acti­va­tion will be wider and more intense.

Con­verse­ly, if you were raised in the US you will find the inter­na­tion­al proverbs below to be more chal­leng­ing. You will not be able to remem­ber them, as you prob­a­bly nev­er learned them, but you should be able to fig­ure them out for extra frontal lobe, cog­ni­tive exercise.

Here’s the task: Guess the miss­ing words of each US and inter­na­tion­al proverb below. Get a pen and piece of paper and write your answers before you check the solutions :-)

Ready, Set, Go!

US proverbs

1. The ear­ly bird gets the ___________.
2. After all is _______ and done, more is said than __________.
3. From ___________ begin­nings come great ____________.
4. Don’t ___________ hors­es while cross­ing a ____________.
5. The frog does not ____________ the pond in which he __________.

Inter­na­tion­al proverbs

1. Write injuries in sand, kind­ness­es in ____________.  (France)
2. A closed mouth catch­es no _____________ .  (France)
3. Appetite comes with _______________ .  (France)
4. If you are look­ing for a fly in your food it means that you are ___________. (South Africa)
5. Behold the igua­na puff­ing itself out to make itself a ____________.  (South Africa)
6. Milk the cow, but do not pull off the ___________. (Greece)
7. If you want to gath­er a lot of knowl­edge, act as if you are _________________. (Viet­nam)

Solutions

US proverbs

1. The ear­ly bird gets the worm.
2. After all is said and done, more is said than done.
3. From small begin­nings come great things.
4. Don’t change hors­es while cross­ing a stream.
5. The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.

Inter­na­tion­al proverbs

1. Write injuries in sand, kind­ness­es in marble.
2. A closed mouth catch­es no flies.
3. Appetite comes with eating.
4. If you are look­ing for a fly in your food it means that you are full.
5. Behold the igua­na puff­ing itself out to make itself a man!
6. Milk the cow, but do not pull off the udder.
7. If you want to gath­er a lot of knowl­edge, act as if you are ignorant.

Pas­cale Mich­e­lon, PhD, is a sci­en­tist, edu­ca­tor, and con­tribut­ing author to The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness: How to Opti­mize Brain Health and Per­for­mance at Any Age.

To explore more fun brain teaser games and puzzles:

• Three quick brain teasers to exer­cise your work­ing memory
• 25 fun Brain Teasers and Puz­zles for teens and  adults of any age
• What are cog­ni­tive abil­i­ties and how to boost them?
• Men­tal rota­tion exer­cise to chal­lenge your brain’s pari­etal lobe over the holidays
• Test your con­cen­tra­tion and men­tal self-rota­tion skills with this quick brainteaser