Areas of your brain
Planning
Planning thinking is looking moves ahead, sequencing steps, and finding an order that clears the way.
What these areas do
Thinking moves ahead is commonly linked to the prefrontal cortex, behind the forehead, working with the basal ganglia, a set of structures deep in the brain involved in choosing and ordering actions. The prefrontal cortex sketches out a sequence of steps and imagines where each one leads; the basal ganglia help select and chain those steps into a smooth order. Together they let you look a few moves ahead and find a path before you commit to the first one.
Where you use this
Planning thinking is getting a meal on the table with everything hot at the same time. It is the order you run errands in so you are not crossing town twice. It is packing the car so the thing you need first is not at the bottom. It is looking at a week and working out what has to happen on Tuesday for Friday to be possible, and noticing in advance where it jams.
What your mind is doing in Slipway
Sliding blocks to free a trapped one is a quiet exercise in looking ahead: you picture a sequence, notice where it jams, and find a tidier order. The fewer moves, the better, so it rewards a little forethought. It is a puzzle, not a test, and nothing about you is scored. It is a calm way to keep planning-ahead thinking active.
Keep this kind of thinking active
This daily game gives planning a gentle, enjoyable workout. Any three of the nine games are free to play every day.
- Slipway Slide the blocks to free the trapped one. Play Slipway How to play
Looking after your brain
Puzzles are one enjoyable way to stay curious and mentally active. The habits with the best evidence behind them are simple ones: good sleep, regular exercise, learning new things, staying socially connected, and looking after your heart. These games are for fun and mental exercise. They are not a treatment, a test, or a measure of your health.