Session number: 6-13
Average n-back: 7.00
Duration (min.): 40
While training with BFPro isn’t THE best choice I have ever made in my life, it does come within the Top Ten best choices I have ever made in my life. Other candidates include:
1) Marrying my fabulous wife.
2) Attending university
3) Seeing a CBT psychologist
4) Exercising regularly
5) Regular sleep schedule
6) Following the Canada Food Guide
7) Mending relationship with parents
e) Keeping in touch with friends
9) Learning mindfulness meditation
0) Training regularly with BFPro…
This list, of course, certainly misses some important ones that I’ve forgotten, and isn’t in descending or ascending order, but you get the point. Here’s the inspiring breakdown for today.
(I’m away for the next few days, so be seeing you later. Also, this is the last day of training with thoughts to challenge Mind Reading, next is to challenge other anger producing thoughts. For example, overgeneralizing is a powerhouse of an anger trigger).
n=7, misses=4, That’s one possiblity…
n=7, misses=4, …but there are probably…
n=7, misses=5, …other reasons for her behavior.
n=7, misses=4, Getting angry won’t help…
n=7, misses=6, …me figure out…
n=6, misses=2, …what’s really going on.
n=7, misses=5, My assumptions…
n=7, misses=2, …may not be accurate…
n=8, misses=7, …I’d better check it out.
n=7, misses=4, Stop trying…
n=7, misses=6, …to second-guess…
n=6, misses=2, …other people’s motives.
n=7, misses=2, Hi there aversion…
n=8, misses=5, …my old friend…
n=8, misses=5, …welcome to the guest house…
n=8, misses=6, …you presence…
n=7, misses=3, …does no good at all…
n=7, misses=6, …for me or for anyone else…
n=6, misses=3, …and is nowhere near…
n=6, misses=1, …as powerful…
Mean=7, …as we sometimes think. 
Shaun.
This post was submitted by Shaun Luttin.
Tags: Brain Exercises, brain-fitness, brain-fitness-pro, buschkuehl, increase intelligence, increase IQ, intelligence-training, IQ-training, jaeggi, martin-buschkuehl, mind-sparke, susanne-jaeggi, Training Working-Memory, working-memory
Congratulations, Shaun!! 7.0
Now that’s a nice way to end up before a break.
Great to hear that training with Brain Fitness Pro makes your top ten. That really reinforces my feeling that starting this company is on my top ten; actually my top five.
Martin
Shaun,
Well done at jumping up to a new PB average score for 19 sessions!
I hit 8-back for the first time today, although my stay was short-lived and my altitude plummeted and I landed at 5.95.
There’s something about the complexity of 7 back that leads me to think that mastery of it should lead WM capacity that would enable someone to learn just about any subject quickly. Mastering 6 makes one highly capable, but with 7 back I think there might be another level of cognition that’s reached. This is all speculative but interesting to think about. There is the issue of confidence as well, which is a psychological factor involved in learning…but from a pure physiological standpoint, 7 back reveals the
processes are in place for learning any variety of abstruse material.
Hi there Will and Martin:
I have returned! And I am going to get back to the training. What you say, Will, reminds me of my recent experience of reading books, and about your comments, from the past, about reflective learning. For instance, I am currently reading The Mind and The Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. Its written by Dr. Jeffery Swartz and Sharon Begely. The latter author also wrote Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain. Reading the book has lead me to some interesting observations of my learning capacity.
A while back, Will, you mentioned that you’re ability to reflect on what you have read has improved, and that this enhanced ability to reflect has subsequently enhanced your learning. I find the same thing. After reading a section of The Mind and The Brain, my own sense is that I have much more cognitive energy to reflect on what I have learned. For instance, I have gotten into the habit of cognitively recalling five unique points that I have learned, when I finish a small section of the book. This has really helped me to process the material as I read it. Just having the cognitive space to reflect on what I read, has lead to an increased understanding of the material that I read.
Also, I notice that I making more connections with the material that I read. For instance, I might be reading a chapter. Early in the chapter the author might mention the anterior cingulate gyrus (sp) in relation to habit development in people with Tourette’s Syndrome (sp). Later in the chapter the author might again mention the cingulate gyrus in relation to habit development in people with obsessive compulsive disorder. My mind seems better able to make the connection, to see the similarity, between the two concepts, than it was before doing about 100 sessions of BFPro. That is a really nice payoff to have noticed.
In addition to making more connections between concepts, and being more easily able to reflect on recently encountered concepts, I also seems to be better able to concentrate on reading for protracted periods. For instance, a technical book, much like the one I’m currently reading, might leave me cognitively spent after 30minutes of reading. Now, however, I seem to be more able to read and really concentrate on the topic for longer. My reading time seems to be going for an hour instead of 30 minutes.
Other interesting side effects of the training are being able to better listen during conversations with people. Also, I seem to be better able to muster the mental force to concentrate sharply on something than I was able to muster the mental force before. In short, the BFPro training seems to have strengthen my mental muscles so that I am more able to exert mental force. That mental force might be called volition or willpower, but whatever it is, it seems to have an effect on my ability to attend to certain stimuli like sentences or conversations, and to cognitive rehearse concepts during the reflection on new ideas.
In short I am quite glad to have stuck with the training.
Warm regards,
Shaun.
Shaun, actually I own that book and have read it in its entirety. That consciousness as a product of the brain might in turn influence the mechanisms of the brain seems to me to be a natural part of being human. I like think of myself as a materialist and not a Cartesian dualist, as I don’t think of mind as anything other than arising from brain states. But brain states in intelligent animals, (ie. humans), engender decision making; so what we decide to do can then thereby effect our functioning brain.
I was a bit perplexed by the essence of the disagreements in the book because it’s clear traditional learning brought about by consciousness, for instance, has a physical effect on the brain. I’m not sure how this is all so different than consciousness directed behaviors of OCD patients changing the chemistry of their brains. Or maybe I’m over simplifying it –In any event, you have motivated me to read the “Quantum Brain” chapter (8).
Anyway, regarding your ability to reflect on what you’ve read, that’s very good sign.
Hi Will…
If mind arises from brain states, the mind follows the same rules of causality as the rest of matter.
By quantum theory, mind has a causal effect, through observation, on matter. That is, observation leads to the collapse of the probability wave. As such, observation leads myriad potentialities to turn into a single actuality.
When the brain is not under observation of the mind, then the brain exists as a probability wave. Then, though observation by the mind, the brain’s probability wave collapses into a single, actual brain state.
I’m actually not sure where I am going with this. But anyways, suffice it to say that I lean toward being a NON-determinist. As a result, it isn’t easy for me to see mind as arises entirely from brain states. That said, I can understand, and see the persuasiveness, of the brain acting on brain argument for volitional neuroplasticity.
These ideas about the brain and the mind, and the various views of their relationships to each other, is a topic I would much enjoy exploring further on this blog. I feel that I have much to learn in this area. One of the things I would like to learn, are the subtle difference between the variegated perspective on the interactions between mind and brain. I’m considering posting a brief summary that compares and contrasts the popular philosophies of mind brain interaction. Look for it over the next few days.
Warm regards,
Shaun
Hello Shaun, Will.
Much to comment on here. Firstly, I like to read that you guys feel similar benefits from the training to those I’ve felt myself. Your description of your increased ability to comprehend, retain, and focus, Shaun, all remind me of the increases I’ve noticed myself.
As to Schwartz, I haven’t read his book but I’ve read elsewhere that some of his arguments are used in service of a theory that there must be an intelligent designer. If that’s the case, I would be cautious of the rest.
I am also highly dubious about the theory of a Quantum Brain, again, what I’ve read of it. If quantum mechanics plays a role in brain states it would have to be at a very low level. Quantum effects have only been meaningfully observed in the operation of very tiny particles. To conceive of a larger scale quantum state is beyond the realm of existing scientific theory. There’s also no need as far as I can tell to invoke a quantum brain to answer questions about consciousness and subconsciousness.
In any case, I’ve said enough from a position of relative ignorance about the book and Schwartz. I should probably shut up.
Martin
Hi Martin:
“As to Schwartz, I haven’t read his book but I’ve read elsewhere that some of his arguments are used in service of a theory that there must be an intelligent designer. If that’s the case, I would be cautious of the rest.”
It is unfortunate that sometimes truths are used in support of falsities. And it’s sometimes confusing that the same truth can be used in support of two diametrically opposed perspectives. That’s what trial lawyers do for a living. For instance, the fact that I have brown hair could be used in service of a theory that I must have robbed a bank machine simply because the actual thief also had brown hair. Using Schwartz’s arguments in service of intelligent design hardly do any real damage to the veracity of Schwartz’s arguments. I don’t think any more caution than usual is necessary about believing in the color of my hair, for instance.
“I am also highly dubious about the theory of a Quantum Brain, again, what I’ve read of it. If quantum mechanics plays a role in brain states it would have to be at a very low level. Quantum effects have only been meaningfully observed in the operation of very tiny particles. To conceive of a larger scale quantum state is beyond the realm of existing scientific theory. There’s also no need as far as I can tell to invoke a quantum brain to answer questions about consciousness and subconsciousness.”
It’s true that quantum effects have only been observed in the operation of very tiny particles. That’s a good point, especially because the brain is relatively humongous. But, I recall some thought experiments, particularly one about Schrodinger’s Cat. The quantum effects on the operation of very tiny radioactive particles either caused or did not cause the death of the cat. In this case, it’s a thought experiment; nevertheless, the quantum effects had an effect on the large scale of a cat. A cat is certainly larger than my brain! Is Schrodinger’s Cat also beyond the pale of existing scientific theory?
Also, it may indeed be possible to answer questions about consciousness and it’s related concepts without resorting to quantum theory. I would much like to be more informed than I am about those answers. Unfortunately, I am quite ignorant in those areas. But, my own sense in that quantum theory does likely have much to add to those answers, particularly because quantum theory seems to be bring consciousness into contact with the material world. For instance, non-locality and the Quantum Zeno Effect seem to allow consciousness to break through Cartesian Dualism. Further, the question of Free Will goes beyond the question of consciousness and subconsciousness. Even some relative materialists, or some biological determinists, argue for the existence of consciousness, albeit a passive consciousness. Schwartz, on the other hand, does address volition and does so quite persuasively – his argument is NOT coercive though.
That’s the most exciting part of this field. It’s the part of this fiend of consciousness and volition and free will that makes it so exciting. This is venerable but there is still so much we don’t know. We don’t know if we are automatons with the illusion of free will. We don’t know whether consciousness has some Mental Force that can impact on the world. One option is to take the route of faith and just believe that free will exists (and fervently deny the existence of humans as automatons). Another route is to take the route of faith in humans as automatons. Those are fine routes to take, but I think the real truth is that we don’t know.
My own preference is for the existence of free will. My own gut says that free will exists. I act based on the belief that I can and do impact my brain wiring through volitional actions, and through the choice of what to pay attention to. Let’s give Schwartz’s theory of directed mental force a bit more attention, because my own sense is that it’s worth exploring. Until then I think we have not proven what’s true, and importantly, we also have not proven what’s false or without merit.
Warm regards,
Shaun