Words worth knowing.

Practicing mental tasks, often as short games, to get better at them. Research shows people improve on the tasks they practice; how far that carries over to everyday life is still debated.

Deciding which group something belongs to, such as mammal or bird.

Grouping items so they’re easier to remember, like reading 4 1 5 2 8 3 as 415 283.

Wits term

In the Wits iPhone app, the quick games picked for you each day alongside Dot Path: 3, 6 or 12 quick games for the 5, 10 or 20 minutes a day you choose. On the website, the daily set is Color Clash and Word Code.

Reaching a conclusion by ruling possibilities out from the clues you have.

Wits termReasoning

The Wits daily puzzle: one line through every blue dot, avoiding red ones. Each day opens your next level.

Working out an approximate answer quickly, often by rounding, to check that an exact answer is the right size.

A route through a grid or network that visits every point exactly once. Dot Path puzzles ask you to find one.

Wits term

In Wits’ timed games, your allowance of mistakes for a level. A wrong answer costs one; run out and the level ends.

Doing sums in your head, without paper or a calculator.

Wits term

The name on your Wits card, such as The Strategist or The Wordsmith, from the skills you play best. It describes how you play, not a score of you.

How quickly you can take in information and respond to it accurately.

Trying to bring something back from memory, rather than rereading it, as a way to study.

Focusing on what matters for a task while ignoring distractions.

Reviewing something at growing intervals, such as a day later, then a few days later, instead of all at once.

Wits term

In Wits, up to three for clearing a level: one off for each mistake and one off for finishing in the last fifth of the clock.

The slowdown and errors people show when naming the ink color of a word that spells a different color, first described by John Ridley Stroop in 1935.

Wits term

A trading card unlocked after your first three games, showing your play style and your two strongest skill moves.

Wits term

The paid plan that unlocks every game and lesson, puzzles and tests and daily hints, with no ads between games. Premium is for the Wits iPhone app. You buy Premium in the app, through Apple. On the website, a free Wits account plays Dot Path, Color Clash and Word Code. Playing on the website and playing in the iPhone app are separate for now: the app has no sign-in, so what you play on the web stays on the web.

Holding a few pieces of information in mind while you use them, such as keeping a running total while you add numbers.