Archive for the ‘n-back improvements’ Category

Brain Training Report – Zach

Friday, July 12th, 2013

Stage: 3

Session number: 18

Average n-back: 9.35

I’m starting to think I’m not doing this right…

I’ve had a lot of mind chatter doing this training since I picked up the course–now doing it consistently again after taking about a month off from mid-May to mid-June. About Session 17 the thoughts became so distracting that I hit the stop button in the middle of my session and basically just yelled “Enough!!!” When I sat back down my performance went to another level.

I’m telling everybody this for two reasons:
1. I know this is working because I’ve seen the improvement, particularly from being stuck between stages 6 and 7 to skyrocketing to sessions as high as 11. More importantly I’m appreciating the discipline I have to have to quiet my mind, though I obviously still have lapses.

2. The downside is that I don’t know if I’m cheating myself or not.

I hope I’m not spoiling it for everyone else when I say this (not that I’m the smartest person here by any measure), but my strategies have basically involved chunking the squares into groups or patterns, and only clicking on the squares I know are n-positions back from my recall. Otherwise, I don’t answer. Am I cheating myself or is this the idea behind the process? To force our brains to adapt however they best can to meet the challenge at hand?

I’d like to believe I’m falling into the latter category, but who knows. Any thoughts and feedback would be greatly appreciated.

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This post was submitted by Zach.

Brain Training Report – Travis – Stage 3, Session 18

Thursday, July 19th, 2012

Stage: 3

Session number: 18

Average n-back: 4.5

I’ve got enough sessions logged now that I’ve noticed a trend. My biggest gains seem to come after a period of several days loss. I don’t think this is just b/c of the decline making it easier to have larger leaps. It feels like there is some sort of reorganization going on during the loss period. Anyway, I got 3 n=5 in a row for the first time and am looking forward to the day when the computer throws a 6 at me!

Also, I noticed that not moving my focus off the inner block that never lights up seems to make it easier to remember the visual pattern. I think this ties into the meditation. I acknowledge the square and let it go without loosing my calm or focus. When it comes back in again in the pattern I realize I didn’t let it go, I just let it be.

I’m interested in the tip that suggests the more tricks one tries to employ to memorize the patterns, the less transference one gets to other gF tasks. Its a relief to give up on the tricks!

MindSparke Working Memory Training

This post was submitted by travis.hardaway@gmail.com.

Brain Training Report – Ezhil – Stage 3, Session 2

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

Stage: 3

Session number: 2

Average n-back: 2.55

Second day today on stage 3. Performance was pretty fluid at N-2, but N-3 is quite a struggle with remembering the sequences. Scores have marginally improved from day 1 to day 2 though, so hopefully there would be more gains in the next few days.

MindSparke Brain Fitness Software

This post was submitted by ezhilk.

Brain Training Report – Josh – Stage 3, Session 17

Saturday, July 14th, 2012

Stage: 3

Session number: 17

Average n-back: 4.65

Over the last few days I’ve applied a technique that I use in music to play music faster technically. I warm-up by alternating every day between Double Ahead and Double Switchback. While in one of the two stages I start at N-2, then N-4, then N-3, then N-5, N-4, N-6 etc. until I feel I’m really struggling. I then move on to stage 3. This has dramatically improved my performance in stage 3. Try it for yourself and see what you think…

MindSparke Brain Training Software

This post was submitted by Josh.

Brain Training Report – Travis – Stage 3, Session 15

Wednesday, July 11th, 2012

Stage: 3

Session number: 15

Average n-back: 4.4

No improvement in score today even with 20 min of exercise before followed by the 8 min meditation recording. I don’t really feel like I hit the ceiling though. One thing I noticed that I think was starting to help: I count sequences each time equal to the n level and then rewrite the combined sequence for each new letter/block combination. I’ve started waiting roughly a half a second before I try to call up the rest of the sequence after each new pair is introduced and it seems to make it a little easier to remember what just happened without erasing the rest of the sequence from memory. Comments?

MindSparke Brain Training Software

This post was submitted by travis.hardaway@gmail.com.

Brain Training Report – Shariff – Stage 3, Session 1

Monday, July 9th, 2012

Stage: 3

Session number: 1

Average n-back: 2

Definitely very difficult. I have a hard time doing the n=3.

MindSparke Working Memory Training

This post was submitted by Shariff.

Brain Training Report – Travis – Stage 3, Session 14

Monday, July 9th, 2012

Stage: 3

Session number: 14

Average n-back: 4.5

Took the weekend off. Came in this morning and stopped a 2 session micro-slide posting a new top score. N=3 went from challenging to easy. N=4 went from really hard to pretty easy. N=5 has gone from impossible to less impossible. Occasionally I get to stay at n=5 for 2 in a row, but then get bumped down. Gains seem to be slowing, but I’ll be pretty excited to get n=5 to the comfortable level.

MindSparke Brain Fitness Software

This post was submitted by travis.hardaway@gmail.com.

Brain Training Report – Shariff – Stage 2, Session 5

Monday, July 9th, 2012

Stage: 2

Session number: 5

Average n-back: 5

I am really feeling my brain pulsing and feeling so drained! I never knew it could give me a slight headache. I am trying to get as many right in n=5.

MindSparke Brain Training Software

This post was submitted by Shariff.

Brain Training Report – Travis – Stage 3, Session 11

Thursday, July 5th, 2012

Stage: 3

Session number: 11

Average n-back: 4.4

I Squeaked up to a 4.4 on my 44th birthday! It’s weird the way the auditory memory is more sticky than the visual. It seems like the process of updating my visual sequence each time is less reliable and I tend to forget what comes next after a visual change in the sequence, not the auditory. It has been this way since the beginning. Once I master a level (working on 4) this problem disappears.

MindSparke Brain Training Software

This post was submitted by travis.hardaway@gmail.com.

DAY 2 with a cold

Monday, June 25th, 2012

Stage: 3

Session number: 2

Average n-back: 2.5

Groggily schlepped through this one though I’m pleased to say I scored an average n-back of 2.5, up from yesterdays 2.3 :)

MindSparke Brain Fitness Software

This post was submitted by Sham.