Archive for the ‘Hints and Tips’ Category
Friday, July 12th, 2013
Stage: 3
Session number: 18
Average n-back: 9.35
I’m starting to think I’m not doing this right…
I’ve had a lot of mind chatter doing this training since I picked up the course–now doing it consistently again after taking about a month off from mid-May to mid-June. About Session 17 the thoughts became so distracting that I hit the stop button in the middle of my session and basically just yelled “Enough!!!” When I sat back down my performance went to another level.
I’m telling everybody this for two reasons:
1. I know this is working because I’ve seen the improvement, particularly from being stuck between stages 6 and 7 to skyrocketing to sessions as high as 11. More importantly I’m appreciating the discipline I have to have to quiet my mind, though I obviously still have lapses.
2. The downside is that I don’t know if I’m cheating myself or not.
I hope I’m not spoiling it for everyone else when I say this (not that I’m the smartest person here by any measure), but my strategies have basically involved chunking the squares into groups or patterns, and only clicking on the squares I know are n-positions back from my recall. Otherwise, I don’t answer. Am I cheating myself or is this the idea behind the process? To force our brains to adapt however they best can to meet the challenge at hand?
I’d like to believe I’m falling into the latter category, but who knows. Any thoughts and feedback would be greatly appreciated.
MindSparke Brain Training Software
MindSparke Brain Fitness Software
MindSparke Working Memory Training
This post was submitted by Zach.
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
Posted in brain training, Hints and Tips, Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro, n-back improvements, Test Scores, Training Working-Memory | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 7th, 2013
Any late-bloomers out there? If you didn’t see any benefits with initial training ( by “initial” i mean completing a full 19 day program, at least), but stuck with it and eventually saw some?
Training not working for me thus far. I finished the 19 sessions, took a five day break, and just did another sessions. I was training in a single -n mode, and also doing practice exercises in dual-mode in the final five days (levels 1 and 2 only as not to go against recommendation). I did not notice any improvement in my daily life in terms of memory, concentration, or processing speed. I reached N4.7 (3rd level) at the end of my 19 days. My N went up slightly to 4.9 today, but even that is not very impressive since I had higher averages at 2 previous sessions. Furthermore, I took a makeshift iq test ( I used the logical reasoning section from an LSAT book. In my opinion, it’s a much more reliable test of fluid intelligence than the internet iq tests, and has more real-life correlation than plugging through a bunch of visual patterns) and scored the same as I did a few years ago.
It would be encouraging to see if others have been in this situation. I feel like I might just end up quitting if I continue not seeing results
I want to give it one more shot and plan to train for 19 more days in dual-mode. I will even try to do two sessions a day. If that doesn’t work, than that’s that.
Posted in Brain Exercises, Hints and Tips, Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro, Training Benefits, Training Blog, Well Being | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 7th, 2013
The Brain Fitness Pro upgrade to version 3.1 adds some exciting new features:
Facebook integration: Connect your training account to your Facebook account through the Account panel and you can login with Facebook and share your training progress and blog posts with your Facebook friends.
Focus Helper: In the training panel you’ll see the “Focus Helper” audio player. Listen to this background audio while training and it will help you focus.
If you have questions or comments on the upgrade, please let us know.
Martin Walker
CEO, Founder
Tags: news
Posted in Brain Exercises, Hints and Tips, Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro, Training Working-Memory | No Comments »
Thursday, July 19th, 2012
Stage: 3
Session number: 18
Average n-back: 4.5
I’ve got enough sessions logged now that I’ve noticed a trend. My biggest gains seem to come after a period of several days loss. I don’t think this is just b/c of the decline making it easier to have larger leaps. It feels like there is some sort of reorganization going on during the loss period. Anyway, I got 3 n=5 in a row for the first time and am looking forward to the day when the computer throws a 6 at me!
Also, I noticed that not moving my focus off the inner block that never lights up seems to make it easier to remember the visual pattern. I think this ties into the meditation. I acknowledge the square and let it go without loosing my calm or focus. When it comes back in again in the pattern I realize I didn’t let it go, I just let it be.
I’m interested in the tip that suggests the more tricks one tries to employ to memorize the patterns, the less transference one gets to other gF tasks. Its a relief to give up on the tricks!
MindSparke Working Memory Training
This post was submitted by travis.hardaway@gmail.com.
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
Posted in Hints and Tips, n-back improvements, Training Working-Memory, Well Being | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 11th, 2012
Stage: 3
Session number: 15
Average n-back: 4.4
No improvement in score today even with 20 min of exercise before followed by the 8 min meditation recording. I don’t really feel like I hit the ceiling though. One thing I noticed that I think was starting to help: I count sequences each time equal to the n level and then rewrite the combined sequence for each new letter/block combination. I’ve started waiting roughly a half a second before I try to call up the rest of the sequence after each new pair is introduced and it seems to make it a little easier to remember what just happened without erasing the rest of the sequence from memory. Comments?
MindSparke Brain Training Software
This post was submitted by travis.hardaway@gmail.com.
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
Posted in Hints and Tips, n-back improvements, Training Working-Memory | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 27th, 2012
Stage: 3
Session number: 8
Average n-back: 5
Hi there. So I completed stage 1 and 2 in one sitting and this is my 8th session at stage 3. I tried adding a session of stage 1 or 2 with every session of stage 3, as my training has been irregular since I just moved. I was just wondering if there was a certain n=# at which I could just skip ahead to stage 4 without completing the 50 sessions of stage 3, or if it was just better to stick with it till the end. Thanks!
MindSparke Brain Training Software
This post was submitted by JR.
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
Posted in Hints and Tips, Training Working-Memory | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 12th, 2012
Stage: 3
Session number: 8
Average n-back: 2.3
am stuck around 2.3/2.4 had misunderstood directions for n-3 then had a crap day yesterday after using neuroPro the night b4 (seems to have a lag effect)is this static effect OK?
MindSparke Working Memory Training
This post was submitted by keerti.
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
Posted in Brain Exercises, Hints and Tips, Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro, n-back improvements, Training Blog, Training Working-Memory | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 12th, 2012
Stage: 3
Session number: 12
Average n-back: 2.6
I guess there are alot of rocket engineers, brain surgeons and quantum physicists on here because I can’t seem to get completely past level 2, even at session 12, while everyone else is progressing nicely.
Any helpful suggestions for a stupid masters in literature student trying to prep for the lit subject area test? I’m horrible at math and suffer from pharmaceutically-induced short term memory problems (due to medication for depression) along with a mild case of ADD. I can tell this site is helping, but I’m also frustrated.
MindSparke Brain Fitness Software
This post was submitted by Tanya.
Tags: add, Brain Exercises, brain-fitness, brain-fitness-pro, buschkuehl, Depression, dyscalculia, increase intelligence, increase IQ, intelligence-training, IQ-training, jaeggi, martin-buschkuehl, mind-sparke, susanne-jaeggi, Training Working-Memory, working-memory
Posted in Depression, Hints and Tips, Test Scores, Training Working-Memory, Well Being | 1 Comment »
Sunday, June 10th, 2012
Stage: 4
Session number: 91
Average n-back: 5.25
I seem to be stuck in a range of between 5-5.7, for a long time. I have practised level 6, qiute a few times. However, I can’t hold onto that level for more than 4/5 sequences max.
I feel quite frustrated about not being able to make the leap to average n-back 6+. Have I reached a barrier,or is 6 hard to achieve, given that working memory enables us to process at most 7/8 pieces of information?
MindSparke Brain Training Software
This post was submitted by Sumesh.
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
Posted in Hints and Tips, n-back improvements, Training Working-Memory | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
Stage: 3
Session number: 15
Average n-back: 2.45
It is interesting to see what combination of strategies work to move forward in average n-back (score). For me I am finding that a balance of reiterating exactly what I am trying to do and how to do it comes first, then I concentrate on motivating myself, then urging to focus and try hard, then tell myself to hear and see the combinations. When balanced between all these, I do better!
MindSparke Working Memory Training
This post was submitted by Wren Canzoneri.
Tags: Balanced Strategy, 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
Posted in Hints and Tips, Training Working-Memory | 1 Comment »
