Jigsaw puzzling is a common everyday activity that requires careful coordination of visuospatial and attentional control processes. Jigsaw puzzling has been previously suggested to help strengthen visuospatial and attentional control processes but the underlying neural mechanisms supporting this preservation is unclear. People age at different rates, and visuospatial abilities and cognition more generally decline at highly variable rates when aging. Therefore, the current study tested whether alpha reactivity could reflect a mechanism by which jigsaw puzzling helps to strengthen visuospatial attentional control processes in young adults. The strength of visuospatial and attentional control processes can be indexed by modulations in alpha-based oscillatory power (8-12 Hz). Specifically, alpha power is known to decrease when people open their eyes and increase when people close them, the difference between eyes closed and eyes open is referred to as alpha reactivity. Alpha reactivity is thought to reflect how well the brain can flexibly shift attention and the strength of neural connections across the brain's cortex (cortical connectivity). Fifteen young-adult participants (18-22) completed a classic eyes-open-eyes-closed paradigm while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. Experimental participants then completed a jigsaw puzzle for twenty minutes followed by another eyes-open-eyes-closed paradigm. Rather than solving the puzzle, controlled participants watched a video of the puzzle being solved. Segments included Session 1, pretest, while Session 2 was posttest. Results showed classic alpha reactivity, with alpha power being lower during eyes-open segments than during eyes-closed segments. This alpha reactivity, though, decreased after jigsaw puzzling. This implies that visuospatial attentional control processes indexed by alpha reactivity were taxed by jigsaw puzzling. This suggests a possible mechanism by which jigsaw puzzling can challenge visuospatial attention processes toward long-term adaptive improvements and ultimate cognitive resilience. These results contribute to our understanding of visuospatial attention processes and how jigsaw puzzles can be used as a potential mechanism to increase cognitive resilience.
