Day 12
Sunday, June 8, 2008

Training location:
Home, upstairs
Training conditions:
Afternoon. Caffeine earlier. No nap. Tired. Long, frazzling summer days…

Half way through, I’m doing lousy on n=4, pretty well on n=3, although a few n=3 repeats. Doesn’t bode well for a good score. Indeed, with only one success on n=4, this turned out to be my worst score in four sessions. (mean n of 3.4) Reflection: I powered through today as opposed to last time when I took lots of long breaks. The breaks seem to help maintain focus. I did particularly poorly on the aural matches.

Mean n-back: 3.4

Day 11
Thursday, June 5, 2008

Training location:
Fall Café
Training conditions:
Morning. Some caffeine. Drinking Latte. No nap. No vitamins. Tired.

New version of training program – reducing repeats!!

8 misses on first round (n=4). Can’t get the hang of n=4 today. No misses on n=3. Took a break, came back with just 3 misses on n=4. On block 14, n=4, two misses, up to n=5 for the first time since Sunday. Not bad, just 6 misses… But then back to n=3… 1 miss.
Ended with best score so far. 3.7.

Day 10
Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Training location:
Home
Conditions:
Morning. Some caffeine. No nap. Alone in the house.

No training yesterday. Starting with a 3-back test. 1 miss. Up to n=4. Felt able to follow the 3-back. Staying on n=4. Now struggling on n=3…. Back to n=4 for block 9. Just 3 misses. One miss on block 13 (n=3). Spent the rest going back between 3 and 4. Ended up just below 3.5 average.

Mean n-back: 3.45

Day 9
Sunday, May 31, 2008

Training location:
Home
Training conditions:
Afternoon. Some caffeine today; not much. No nap. Alone in the house.

(Starting with a 2-back after yesterday’s last round blow out.) Up to n=4 on block 3, staying on n=4 for block 4. Then back to n=3, and blew it – complete lapse of focus. Back to n=2. (No misses.) (9 hits, 3 misses; 11 hits, 1 miss) Back to n=4. Just 4 misses, staying on n=4. (7 hits, 6 misses.) According to my scores, I seem to be getting better with n=3. Back up to n=4 for block 14. Just 2 misses!!, up to n=5. (6 hits, 8 misses). Back down to n=3, but then zero misses on n=3. Just 2 misses on n=4, and back up to n=5. (7 hits, 7 misses).

Mean n-back: 3.55

Day 8
Saturday, May 31, 2008

Training location: Home
Training conditions: Afternoon. Just napped. Just had a light lunch. Some caffeine today and a fresh cup of coffee at my side. Alone in the house.

Using a modified version of the program today… Code changes — new code to try to eliminate the over-repetition of symbols; same voice for all audio symbols; no countdown of tests remaining and keystroke registers.

Note: This is the eighth day – the end of the training for Jaeggi’s first group, after which she noticed already a statistically significant improvement in IQ test scores.

Wow! Really got thrown off by the change in the audio symbols – the new voice is very different. Blew that block and reverted to the old sounds.

Back to the old sounds, still missing the key recognition a little, but held steady on n=3 for the first 5 blocks. Now up to n=4 on block 6. (8 hits, 7 misses; felt a little more comfortable with n=4). Two misses on the next block, right back to n=4. (6 hits, 7 misses.) Block 9. Starting to lose focus and concentration. Losing track of the sequences. Took a break, walked around; one miss on block 11. Up to n=4. (7 hits, 7 misses – a lot of repeats!!) Just two miss on the next n=3, back to n=4. Just 4 misses! Staying on n=4. (6 hits, 8 misses) Now starting to lose it, down to n=2 for the first time after block 16. (Zero misses on n=2.) Took a longer break, 1 miss, back to n=4. (6 hits, 10 misses).
Bottomed out on the last test – 8 misses on a 3-back!!

Mean n-back: 3.25