Wordle: Harvard psychologist explains what makes this simple word game so addictive

new word game ‘Wordle’ has taken virtual world by storm as it has gared an overwhelmingly large fan base and has even turned several into game addicts. Launched five months ago, Wordle has a simple concept where players are made to guess one word every 24 hours and are given six chances to do so. Since game is spreading like wildfire among online game lovers, a psycholinguist and Harvard’s Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, Steven Pinker answered what makes this simple game so appealing.

"I imagine it has optimal level of reward. It’s hard eugh to require concentrated thought, but t so intractable as to leave people frustrated most of time", Pinker said as per Harvard's report. 

(Professor Steven Pinker; Im: Harvard University)

Playing Wordle does t improve memory, says Pinker

When asked if playing Wordle improves memory, Pinker said, "Sadly, I doubt it." He also underlined misconception that  brain is like a muscle training it with one exercise strengns it for many different tasks. He said that it is same reason why people think learning Latin and computer programming would instil formal, logical reasoning in pupils, and playing sudoku can stave off dementia in older people. "In reality, cognitive psychologists find that if you train students in Latin grammar, y get really good in Latin grammar, but t much else, and so on for Sudoku, Wordle, and or games," Pinker added. 

psycholinguistic expert also explained why some people are better at Wordle than ors citing five reasons. He said that general intelligence, verbal intelligence, phological awareness, literacy in English, including familiarity with large numbers of words and spelling patterns and urge to solve intellectual problems in some people are major reasons.

However, professor said that he played game once and has vowed to never play game again to save time for work. "Perhaps mindful of its capacity to destroy lives and careers, Wordle presents only one puzzle a day," Pinker said. 

(Im: Harvard University)