Posts Tagged ‘Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro’

Training History

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

The final n-back progress graph after 19 sessions…

Working-Memory Training - Sessions 1 thru 19

Working-Memory Training - Sessions 1 thru 19

Session #19

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Day 19 – Last day!
Saturday, June 21, 2003

Training location:
Home, upstairs.

Training conditions:
Mid-afternoon. Caffeine in the morning. Woke up at 5am. Dragging this morning. Took a nap at 1pm. Feeling in an OK mood. Alone in the house.

Starting on n=4. One miss, up to n=5. For perhaps the first time, feeling very much on top of n=4. Felt good on n=5, but must have been confused! 8 misses. Two misses on n=4, back up to n=5. (6 hits, 7 misses: again feeling I was doing better than this.) Next n=4, 3 misses. Then 1 miss. Up to n=5. (7 hits, 7 misses: again the feeling that I was tracking this better) Getting a little distracted / unfocused on block 8. Two false starts. Took a break, came back with two misses, up to n=5 again. No misses!!! Up to n=6 for the first time. 6 hits, 9 misses… not too bad. 8 hits 8 misses on n=5, down to n=4. 4 misses, staying on n=4. 3 misses. 3 misses. Right on the brink. Took a break. Came back with 1 miss, up to n=5. Three misses, staying on n=5. (9 hits, 6 misses.) No misses on block 18, back up to n=5. 11 hits, 4 misses. Staying on n=5 for the last block of the last session of 19. Mean n of 4.55, by far the best ever, and the biggest inter-session jump (0.35) not counting the big jump after a sharp drop.

Session #18

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Day 18
Thursday, June 19, 2003

Training location:
Home, upstairs.

Training conditions:
Morning. Caffeine. Couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night and feel irritable.

Quickly down to n=3 with 6 misses on the second block. Four misses!! Staying on n=3 (didn’t happen at all yesterday.) Redeemed myself with no misses on the next block. Two misses on n=4, up to n=5. Just 6 misses. One miss on n=4. Back up to n=5. Just 5 misses, staying on n=5. (7 hits, 7 misses.) Really stuck on block 10. Can follow the sequences at all. Then suddenly got it together – two misses; back up to n=5. (8 hits, 6 misses.) 6 misses (thought I’d done better). Down to n=3. No misses. 2 misses on block 15, up to n=5. Just 5 misses, staying on n=5. 7 misses, down to n=4. Two misses, up to n=5. Ending with mean n of 4.2 – same as yesterday.

Session #17

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Day 17
Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Training location:
Home, upstairs.

Training conditions:
Afternoon. Caffeine earlier. Swam this morning. A little tired. Feeling positive.

Starting on n=3 after yesterday’s last block. Two misses. Up to n=4. Down to n=3 after block 4. (no misses on n=3.) One miss on block 6 after a few false starts, up to n=5. 9 misses. Starting to find it hard to focus after 7 blocks. Took a break. One miss. Up to n=5. 10 misses… One miss on block 12, up to n=5. 10 misses. Just can’t seem to get the hang of n=5. One miss on block 15, up to n=5. Just 6 misses. No visual misses. (Pressed the wrong key on the last test, otherwise would have just had 5 misses…) Struggling to refocus on block 17. Two misses, up to n=5. Just four misses on n=5. Ended with a mean n of 4.2. Best yet.

Session #16

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Day 16
Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Training location:
Home, upstairs.

Training conditions:
Afternoon. Caffeine earlier. Went to Coney Island. Quite tired. A bit distracted.

Down to n=3 for the third block… (No misses on n=3.) Two blocks later, back down to n=3… No misses again on n=3. One miss on block 8, up to n=5. (6 hits, 6 misses) Down to n=3… One miss. A few n=4s. One miss on block 15, back up to n=5. 7 misses. Two misses on block 18, up to n=5. (mean n=4 at this stage, I think.) 9 misses. Ended with mean n=4. (But 6 misses on the last block…)

Session #15

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Day 15
Monday, June 16, 2008

Training location:
Home, upstairs.

Training conditions:
Afternoon. Caffeine earlier. Swam this morning. Moderately tired. In a good mood.

Two misses on block 4, n=4, up to n=5. Just five misses, stay on n=5. Then 8 misses…
Then seven misses on n=4, down to n=3. (Seems to be a pattern after going up to n=5, diving down to n=3.) One miss, back to n=4. Two misses on block 11, up to n=5. Something of a record, perhaps, 14 misses!! Took a good long break with several false starts. Two misses, back up to n=5. Getting really hard at block 12 / 13. Seven misses. Down to n=3 after block 16 (6 misses). Felt hard, but just two misses. (Hurrying now since Hope isn’t feeling well and wants me back downstairs.) But I have a chance to break mean n=4…
Yahoo!! Finished with a mean n of 4.1 !!!

Session #14

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Day 14
Thursday, June 12, 2008

Training location:
Fall Café
Training conditions:
Morning. Caffeine earlier, and drinking a latte. Moderately tired. In a good mood. Beautiful weather. A bit smoky with the door open.

Good start. n=4 for first three blocks, then up to n=5. 3 misses on n=5!!!! Swiftly followed by 11 misses… So much for overconfidence. And 7 misses on n=4, down to n=3 for the first time. Starting to lose focus dramatically. Up to n=5 after block 12. Down to n=3 after block 14. Really tough time on n=3!!! 4 misses after several false starts. (Struggling now to average n=4.) Stuck on n=3, 3 misses. Really falling apart. Can’t even maintain n=3!! Finally, back up to n=4. Ending with a very small improvement after yesterday.

Mean n of 3.9.

Session #13

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Day 13
Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Training location:
Fall Café
Training conditions:
Morning. Caffeine earlier, and drinking a latte. Tired. Irritable. Lost it with Zane this morning. Very hot outside. Not so cool in here.

Great start! n=4, only one miss! Up to n=5. (7 hits, 7 misses) (Then did worse on n=4.)
(n=3, one miss.) Going slow, but well. Only down to n=3 once in first six blocks. Starting to lose it on block 10. Down to n=3 again. (no misses.) Somewhat redeemed on block 12, just four misses on n=4. Two misses, up to n=5. (6 hits, 8 misses). Blew it on block 17. Down to n=3. (one miss) Best score yet (mean n of 3.85) Interesting that the progress is pretty much a straight line from 2.3 to 3.85 (1.55 / 13 sessions = 0.12 increase per day)

Mean n-back: 3.85

Session #12

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

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

Session #11

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

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.