I am thinking about how I know I should be able to do better than 2.35 average n-back on my fourth day of training, and I am thinking about how my IQ is measured as 139 on the WAIS-III IQ test, and I am thinking about how I feel angry and disapointed when I make a miss on the IQ Training Software, and I am thinking about how I should be more patient and relaxed when doing the training.
Right now I am at my home in Kitsilano, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and I am sitting in front of my computer in the living room. I just finished my fourth training session in four days on the IQ Training software. My score at the end of today for average n-back was 2.35. What is going wrong is that a) I am becoming tense or angry when I make a mistake or lapse in concentration on the training, or that b) I become overly excited and enthusiastic when I make several successes on the training. In either case the over arousal leads me to become distracted and less able to perform well on the training.
What I would like to change is my level of arousal when I am doing the training. This reminds me of Yerkes-Dodson Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes-Dodson_law). The law discusses optimal states of arousal for the performance of certain tasks. I remember that performance on cognitive tasks in usually facilitated by a low level of arousal, whereas peformance on tasks that require physical exertion are facilitated by a high level of arousal. So that is my understanding of the problem in this particular situation.
Best regards,
Shaun A Luttin
Hi, Shaun.
Your experience certainly seems to concur with mine, and also makes sense from a neuroscientific perspective. I was listening to a show on NPR the other day about an experiment in cognitive overload:
When people presented with a delicious cake and a plain salad are asked to choose which one they will eat, they tend to choose the salad. But, if given a set of seven digits to remember, they overwhelmingly choose the cake. The rational brain is quickly overloaded by the memory task. Likewise, when we’re trying focus on a mental task and have emotions bombarding us, the mental task becomes much more difficult.
I’ve found that a brief, deep-breath meditation helps if I’m getting frustrated or distracted, focusing on emptying my mind. Rajat who is blogging his experiences found that listening to some loud rock music helped — I can see that, too.
Good for you in persevering. The one thing we know is that if we stop entirely we certainly won’t improve…
Martin
It’s helpful to hear you talk about a “brief, deep-breath meditation”. That reminds me of some actions I have taken to reduce my disapointment and anger during the training.
One action is doing progressive muscle relaxation for 20min prior to starting a 30min training session. The advantage is that I am very relaxed at the beginning of the training.
Another action is stopping during the training when I notice myself becoming angry, taking a deep, deep breath, holding it, focusing on the part of the body that is the most tense, and then letting it go while saying “relax and let go”. The advantage of this is that I can reset my relaxation levels before they spiral into emotional flooding.
A final action is working hard on the n=2 level, but during the n=3 level slacking off on the n-back task and doing diaphragmatic breathing exercises instead. The advantage of this is that I focus, relax, and do well on n=2 while also associating relaxation with a difficult cognitive task.
Best regards, and thanks for the continued support.
Shaun A Luttin