Tech researchers, for example, used the daily crossword puzzle as a model for studying differences between young and old in “novel problem-solving” and in memory recall.
Timothy Salthouse, PhD, and David Hambrick, PhD, of Georgia Tech, whose report appeared in the Journal of Experimental Psychology (Vol. 128, No. 21, p. 131-164), were surprised to find no evidence that crossword puzzle-solving reduced, in older adults, the known age-related decline in problem solving ability - nor did it increase the known age-related gains in stored memory.