Verified by 
Key points
- Word sequence puzzles constitute fascinating and fun experiments in associative thinking.
- The associative system in the brain assigns meaning to information by connecting it to previous knowledge and experiences.
- Association is seen as the process guiding metaphor, analogical constructs, and memory.
Word sequence puzzles constitute fascinating (and fun) experiments in associative thinking—that is, experiments in how we make semantic, conceptual, or formal connections among the words in a set. Typically, we are given, say, four words in a row—each related to the others somehow. The objective is to complete the five-word sequence, choosing the appropriate word from two given ones. Two examples are provided below:
(1) Which word, UNDER or OVER, comes next: AIM, EASE, IRK, OLD …?
(2) Which word, SENIOR or JUNIOR, comes next: INFANT, CHILD, TEENAGER, ADULT,…?
In (1), the words start with the first four vowels in order (A, E, I, O). Thus, we would choose UNDER, since it begins with the fifth vowel (U). In (2), we would select SENIOR because the words refer to stages of life in chronological order—we start as infants, then become children, and so on. There are many other kinds of word sequence puzzles, with different rules, such as organizing them in some logical order, but the type just discussed is, in my view, the standard-bearer.
In effect, word sequence puzzles bring out how association in thinking might unfold in specific ways. One of the first to examine this process was Aristotle. He identified four strategies by which associations are forged: by similarity (an orange and a lemon), difference (hot and cold), contiguity in time (sunrise and a rooster’s crow), and contiguity in space (a cup and saucer).
In the nineteenth century, the early psychologists, guided by the principles enunciated by Scottish philosopher James Mill, studied how people made associations of all kinds. In addition to Aristotle’s original strategies, they found that factors such as intensity, inseparability, and repetition played roles in stimulating associative thinking: for example, arms are associated with bodies because they are inseparable from them; rainbows are associated with rain because of repeated observations of the two as co-occurring phenomena; etc.
The associative system in the brain assigns meaning to information by connecting it to previous knowledge and experiences, even when the connection is not obvious at first. To quote the ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus of Ephesus, “A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one.”
Today, association is seen as the process guiding metaphor, analogical constructs, and memory. Word sequence puzzles plunge us into connective thinking, based on a range of processes, from principles in the formation of words (as in example 1 above) to semantic associations (as in example 2 above). The ten puzzles here are designed as experiments in such thinking.
Puzzles
1. Which word, BLUE or GREEN, comes next: SAD, GLOOMY, DOWNCAST, FORLORN, …?
2. Which word, CUP or BALL, comes next: CUBE, BOX, BAG, BASKET, …?
3. Which word, GLOBE or STICK, comes next: SPHERE, BALL, MARBLE, BUBBLE, …?
4. Which word, AFTER or BEYOND, comes next: LATER, NEXT, LAST, BEFORE, …?
5. Which word, HARD or EASY, comes next: ARTISTIC, BLAND, CREATIVE, DURABLE, …?
6. Which word, VINE or LIVE, comes next: LEVI, VILE, EVIL, VEIL, …?
7. Which word, LEVEL or LITTLE, comes next: CIVIC, RADAR, NOON, DEIFIED, …?
8. Which word, AREA or ABODE, comes next: CONDO, COTTAGE, CABIN, MANSION, …?
9. Which word, LOCOMOTION or EFFORT, comes next: WALKING, SWIMMING, RUNNING, MARCHING, …?
10. Which word, DRAMA or DRIVE, comes next: PLAY, TALK, SIT, WATCH, …?
Answers
1. BLUE: The words refer to states of emotional pain, and blue is a metaphor for a melancholy mood.
2. CUP: The words refer to containers.
3. GLOBE: The words refer to round (spherical) objects.
4. AFTER: The words refer to order.
5. EASY: The first letters of the words are in alphabetical order (A-B-C-D-E).
6. LIVE: The words are all anagrams of each other.
7. LEVEL: The words are all palindromes (they are the same backwards and forwards).
8. ABODE: The words refer to types of abodes.
9. LOCOMOTION: The words refer to ways of moving from one place to another.
10. DRIVE: The words are all verbs.
