The bad news is that paired associate learning tasks are still very, very average. It took me 3 trials to get the whole list of paired words today in my neuropsychology session, so I obviously need to work on this, but I’m not sure how, or whether it’s just a case of it naturally improving over time with n-back training alone (it has, after all, only been 19 days……) Apparently my performance on it today was in the normal range, but that’s frustrating when the rest of me is performing in the top 1st-2nd percentile.

I still haven’t done any of the matrix type stuff on the WAIS yet, so I’m not sure how my progress on the n-back will be reflected yet in those areas. I can say that the problems associated with having an anxiety disorder may also factor into things, so I’m not sure whether the anxiety issue will end up overriding some of the gains I’ve made with my brain training. My verbal fluency is usually through the roof in online brain training exercises that gauge it, but anxiety completely blocked me during testing this aspect today, affecting my cognitive fluency on the exercise – which I attempted twice, but was still overwhelmed with anxiety.

To me this is not a deterrant so much as a question of how overall training needs to be tweaked in order to attain the desired goal when there are additional monsters to contend with (such as a fully-blown anxiety disorder). The n-back work has had some great results even so far, especially when coupled with the work done at MyBrainTrainer. The two seem to work really well together for me. It has shown me some personal evidence in my own life that neuroplasticity is something real, useful, and powerful. Looking at the significant change in what my brain can cope with as a result of n-back work, I suppose I’m asking the same question (albeit on a more personal plane) that people working in that area are asking – how far can this concept stretch, what are the upper limits of it, and how else can I get my brain to develop the supporting structure that I need to utilise my intellect to its full potential? ie If n-back exercises can bring about positive changes, what else is manipulatable?

It could be exciting to see what else eventuates in labs to test the boundaries of the concept of neuroplasticity, and how that might eventually be incorporated into the current brain training phenomenon.

I did another 19 sessions this morning and I shot back up to 6.15, so, as it’s nice to see I am not permanently brain damaged from partying. And as Martin pointed out, the long term gains are cumulative; so, from what I can see, you’re making excellent progress. The dips are similar to what you’d experience at an actual gym (with dual n back as well as with MBT or any other ‘fluid’ type of intellectual exercise).

Well done on reaching the end of your first training period. You’ve achieved a very rapid score increase and you should not worry about this temporary dip. I think everyone who trains regularly goes through this. I know I do. Sometimes my ability to focus is great and other times not. My scores often vary by a whole point or more depending on how my brain is doing.

It’s only Wednesday and Friday is a long way off for your brain!

You’ve hit on a particularly interesting and beneficial aspect of the training. It gives us remarkable insight into our ability to focus. This is something that we would overlook most of the time. But the dual n-back provides a great way of highlighting just how much our mental condition varies from day to day and even from minute to minute.

So, try not to worry and instead try to relish the work you’ve done and the achievements you’ve made.

Here’s to the next 19 sessions!

Martin

In the end what got me to thinking in n=3 terms was thinking of it in terms of musical meter – bars in triple time (’1,2,3,1,2,3′ – think of it as a slow waltz), with an imaginary heavy accent on the first beat of the bar (on 1). That helped serve as a marker so I wouldn’t lose my place.

Whilst holding the pattern of 3 in my head, when the new set came along I would actively mentally ‘predict’ the next move – eg if the last set had a C on the first beat in the top left hand corner, my mind would actively go to that spot. If it matched the thought in my mind I hit the A or L key as appropriate.

If it was different, I would mentally substitute that new letter/square for the last one in that slot in the pattern. In that way I would keep a pattern of 3 in my head at all times, and then as it changed, I would change it gradually one by one, holding the other parts of the pattern in my head until they weren’t needed and could be replaced by something else.

It sounds more complicated to describe than to do. But it was a lot easier than trying to mentally count back 3 spaces.

The only drawback I find with this is that sometimes the voices seem to have a heavier stress on some letters, and that can throw you a bit if the stressed letter doesn’t naturally occur on the dominant beat, especially when you get to n=5, because groupings of 5 are not common in Western music and a natural stress on a letter by the reader can tend to confound it more. It’s much easier when all the letters are read in the same tone (without undue stress on one letter), because I can mentally add my own.

I’ve had a couple of tries at n=6, not terribly successfully – I got bounced back to n=5 each time. But the beauty of using the musical meter technique is that theoretically n=3 should serve as a good preparation for n=6 and n=9, and the same technique for n=4 should serve for n=8, the difference being that instead of holding and manipulating one pattern of 3 or 4 in your head, you have to juggle 2. It should have a similar effect to ‘chaining’ techniques in digit span exercises (where you group the numbers into groups of 2, 3, or 4 instead of thinking of a single long string).

I haven’t had much chance to test that theory fully yet at those levels, but I think it should work.

I feel glad that you read my posts. Also, similarly to you, I feel a sense of gratitude when I have access to tools such as Brain Fitness Pro, and to beliefs such as brain plasticity. I feel empowered by my living in an era with the technology to train brain processes.

Thanks for the information on the dual n back processes.

Several months back I read through one of Alan Baddeley’s book from the early 70’s and on the chapter dealing with aging he describes his model of the processes of working memory in terms of more or less inevitable decline. I imagine that back then it must have been frustrating for someone to read and know there was nothing much they could do to ward off a process that seemed to be fairly well understood in theory. (Not every one has bought into the central executive model, but it’s still the leading working memory model).

I imagine that a forward thinking person back then would have thought there “must be some sort of exercise to ward off working memory attenuation” but personal computers were in their womb/infancy then so one can see how the gap between the model of WM, and the individual use of that WM model to maintain and increase function, existed for such a long time (30+ years).

Excellent! Well done! A new high n-level and a new high mean n.

You’ve quoted one of the sections that particularly stood out for me. This description spells out quite clearly just why the dual n-back task represents a superior brain training exercise.

Thanks, as always, for posting,
Martin