THE SKILLS REQUIRED TO SOLVE CROSSWORD PUZZLES INVOLVE TWO IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF LEXICAL MEMORY: semantic information in the form of clues that indicate the meaning of the answer, and orthographic patterns that constrain the possibilities but may also provide hints to possible answers. Mueller and Thanasuan (2013) proposed a model accounting for the simple memory access processes involved in sol...

Cryptographic puzzles can be used to mitigate spam and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, as well as to implement timed-release cryptography. However, existing crypto puzzles are impractical because: (1) solving them wastes computing resources and/or human time, (2) the time it takes to solve them can vary dramatically across computing platforms, and/or (3) applications become non-interoperable d...

How can we predict the difficulty of a Sudoku puzzle? We give an overview of difficulty rating metrics and evaluate them on extensive dataset on human problem solving (more then 1700 Sudoku puzzles, hundreds of solvers). The best results are obtained using a computational model of human solving activity. Using the model we show that there are two sources of the problem difficulty: complexity of...

We have created a novel computer-based 3D puzzle, named Video Cube Puzzle to investigate human beings' temporal coordination abilities. Ten adult participants were studied solving ten cubic video puzzles of varying difficulties using a within-subject design. The ten puzzles have two segmentation variations, 2x2x2 and 3x3x3, and five texture variations, solid colours and four videos of drastical...

We developed four innovative, creative, and fun educational tools to promote active learning, enhance problem-solving skills, and encourage small group discussion. Furthermore, the tools encourage deductive reasoning and critical thinking rather than passive memorization of material. The tools include crossword puzzles, hidden messages, word scrambles, and word searches. These tools were develo...

BACKGROUND Neurocognitive disorders are an important societal challenge and the need for early prevention is increasingly recognized. Meta-analyses show beneficial effects of cognitive activities on cognition. However, high financial costs, low intrinsic motivation, logistic challenges of group-based activities, or the need to operate digital devices prevent their widespread application in clin...

Introduction to Computer Science is a foundation course in undergraduate programs in computer and computational sciences. It covers wide spectrum of topics in hardware and software systems, including evolution of computer architecture and its basic components, numbers and operations, binary and hexadecimal numeral systems, data representation as bit patterns, logic gates, etc. The course provid...

objective: interventions for people suffering from borderline personality disorder (bpd), such as dialectical behavior therapy, often include a problem-solving component. however, there is an absence of published studies examining the problem-solving abilities of this client group in iran. the study compared inpatients and outpatients with bpd and a control group on problem-solving capabilities...