Posts Tagged ‘fluid-intelligence’

Training Session #2

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Day 2
Saturday May 25 After a break on Friday.

Training Location: Alone in the house

Conditions: Not recorded

2-back starts to get easier, finding some mastery of it. 3-back is very confusing. Feel like I’m guessing. Manage to stay on the 3-back for successive turns then completely fall apart. Other than that, mostly going back and forth from 2 to 3.

Mean n-back: 2.45

First Day of Training (Ever)

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Day 1
May 23, 2008

Training Location: Fall Cafe (Brooklyn, NY)

Conditions: Reasonably alert; two cups of coffee

Anxious to get started with the first prototype of the program. So anxious that I left the cafe and went across the street to the drug store to purchase a cheap pair of headphones.

Wow! this is hard. Found even the 2-back difficult. Got up to the 3-back a couple of times.

Mean n-back=2.3

Hints And Tips

Monday, June 23rd, 2008
  1. Don’t feel stupid: The program is designed to stretch your brain. As you improve, it automatically makes things harder by increasing the degree of difficulty. Feeling stretched means that you’re getting more intelligent.
  2. Pause between training blocks: Sit back, take a deep breath. Orient yourself to the next n-value. In particular, if the n-value has changed since the last training block, make sure to get your mind around the n-back value for the next block before pressing “Go!”
  3. Don’t panic: If you lose your way during a training block, don’t panic. Just pick up again from where you are. Or, if you got distracted, just cancel the block and start over.
  4. Stay alert: Take the training when you feel alert and focused, ideally when you’re not tired or hungry, and not right after eating.
  5. Turn off e-mail alerts, shut off your phone, and close other computer programs that may make noises. (Peace and quiet is essential to peak performance.)
  6. Expect setbacks: At some point during the training, most people’s scores slip from one session to the next. Your mind is forging new pathways, gaining mastery. These setbacks may be accompanied by a sense that you’re actually getting better at remembering the sequences.