Logic Problems and the Brain

By Dylan Isbell

There’s a Fox, Chicken and a sack of grain. You have to get all three across a river without any getting eaten. Your boat can only carry you and one item. You cant leave the chicken alone with the grain, or the fox alone with the chicken. How do you solve this problem? Take some time to think of a solution. If you’re stumped, here’s one common way to figure out this problem:

1. Take the chicken across
2. Come back with the boat empty besides yourself
3. Take the grain (or the fox) across
4. Take the chicken back
5. Take the fox (or the grain) across
6. Come back with the boat empty besides yourself
7. Take the chicken across

This classic Stock Puzzle is one of the thousands of logic riddles. These come in many different forms. One of my personal favorite style of logic problems are Logic Grid Puzzles. I’ve done many of these over the course of my life and they never get old to me. I, and many other people, personally enjoy solving problems that require logic. After reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, I’ve been wondering if regularly doing solving logic problems has any kind of impact on the brain.

Christopher Boone, from The Curious Incident is a very logical person. He can do many brain teasers and logic problems in his head, such as the Monty Hall Problem. Chris has autism, however is extremely good at math, chess and logic. He can easily do hard logic problems that most people can’t figure out. He says “I am good at chess and maths and logic because most people are almost blind and don’t see most things”. This is because Christopher’s brain can comprehend various outcomes easily, whereas someone might have trouble visualizing all different outcomes of a logic problem. For example, think about Marvel character Doctor Strange. Doctor Strange saw 14,000,605 different possibilities for the Avengers’ fight against Thanos. If the fight against Thanos was a logic problem, and both Christopher and Doctor Strange can see many possible outcomes, then, in theory, Chris is on par with Dr. Strange. Chris could figure out the one solution that leads to the Avengers winning against Thanos.

Realistically, we may not be able to reach Dr. Strange levels of logic solving/future predicting abilities, but we can use logic problems to help us in any situation. So how exactly does our brain get better when we do logic puzzle? In Chris’ case he is shown to be able to more adaptable to unfamiliar situations when he is focused on a puzzle. For example, when Chris runs away and finds himself in the terrifying subways station, he thinks of the problem called Conway’s Soldiers. Chris zones out and gets lost in his own mind as he thinks about Conway’s Soldiers. After he comes back to the real world, he then gets back in control of the situation. Doing logic problems can help refresh our brain, and refocus on an important task at hand. They have also been shown to improve memory. Research shows doing brain teasers leads to a healthier and happier life. Everyone wants to be healthier and happier, and doing logic problems is a great way to start.

I think we can all be happier and healthier if we just take time for our brain. If you don’t think logic puzzles and problems are for you, you’re not alone. Not everyone is like Chris and can easily visualize these problems in their minds. That’s perfectly okay and you can get better. It is possible to improve logic reasoning and brain skills just like getting better at a sport. I think that every single person has an enormous amount of potential, People can be inspired by anything. All it takes is a spark of interest in the brain.

How to get better at logic

When trying to solve a complex puzzle or problem, two main abilities are required. One, is the ability to find hidden details that are hidden in the problem and are necessary to its solution, and the other is the ability to combine previous knowledge and new knowledge to finalize a solution. Both of these abilities can be improved upon simply by trying new logic problems. Let’s go back to the Fox, Chicken, Grain puzzle. This puzzle is challenging because it requires a move that seems counter intuitive. Taking the chicken back across the river doesn’t seem like it would help reach a solution. Once you figure this out, you can use this new knowledge to help you solve more logic problems. Knowing that some puzzles require you to be counter intuitive helps you solve them. With increased knowledge, it becomes easier to solve harder problems.

Hopefully, you are now inspired to go and try to do at least one more logic puzzle. They are genuinely fun and also beneficial to your brain. Here’s some more puzzles for you to try. Maybe if Thanos attacks, you’ll be logical enough to figure out how to beat him.