Session number: 9-1

Average n-back: 6.30

Duration (min.): 30

My aspiration for period #9 is to stay at or above nAve 6.0 for 16 of 19 sessions. And if not, that’s okay too. Here are my records to date.

Within the score list for eight complete periods of BFPro, there are no records for my first three sessions. Martin, my sense is that I’m starting period 9-1 with today’s score.

It isn’t possible for me to post a graph to the blog; but I would like that. Martin, could you please post my training history as a graph. I would appreciate that!

[Duly done: MGW, remarkably similar curve...]

Shaun’s Training History,
Period 1 to 8

No record
No record
No record
2.3
2.95
2.75
3.35
3.4
3.65
3.7
3.8
4.25
4.1
4.4
4.5
4.2
4.3
4.55
4.3
4.45
4.5
4.65
4.8
4.4
4.85
4.4
4.55
4.85
4.9
5.1
4.9
5.05
5.25
5
4.9
5.25
4.6
5.35
4.75
4.9
5.5
5.15
5.2
4.85
5
4.65
5.05
5.2
5.05
4.95
5.45
5.45
5.5
5.55
4.85
4.55
5.05
5.45
5.1
5.45
4.2
4.55
5.15
5
5.15
5.65
5.55
4.8
5.7
5.45
5.65
4.65
4.85
5.4
5.75
5.4
5.2
5.55
6.15
5.75
5.45
5.15
5.6
5.8
6.15
5.3
5.45
5.6
6.2
6.1
5.25
5.35
5.5
5.85
5.35
6.05
6.15
5.8
6
6.55
6.15
6.1
5.75
6.45
6.3
6.5
7
6.4
6.25
6.3
6.25
6.4
6.85
7.05
7.2
6.65
6.45
6.55
5.9
7
6.1
5.7
6
6.1
6.2
6.05
6.85
5.9
6.65
6.1
6.4
6.35
5.65
6.2
5.65
6.35
6.05
6.8
5.75
6.45
6.65
6.85
6.25
6.5
6.25
5.95
6.65
6.4
6.4
6.85
6.25
6.30 (Beginning of period #9)

This post was submitted by Shaun Luttin.

Session number: 12

Average n-back: 4.30

Duration (min.): 30

First of all - self-pat on the back for effort: WooHoo! 4.30 on day 12.

Progress so far:

Day 1: 2.30
Day 2: 2.35
Day 3: 2.50
Day 4: 2.80
Day 5: 3.05
Day 6: 3.30
Day 7: 3.50
Day 8: 3.85
Day 9: 4.10
Day 10: 3.80
Day 11: 3.90
Day 12: 4.30

(Days 8 & 9 were done early in the evening and the others around midnight before going to bed. Thanks everyone for the tip - won’t be making that mistake again…..)

I did 5 runs at n=5 this evening. I got bumped immediately back to n=4 after each, but it didn’t really matter, because just to even get half right at n=5 is giving me a real confidence lift.

Why this is so amazing to me is because my working memory has always been far, far weaker than my capacity for abstract thought - enough to cause problems for me (along with an anxiety disorder) in postgraduate work. I even thought that I may have had an impairment in that area, and so sought formal neuropsychological assessment, which I’m in the midst of undergoing now bit by bit every couple of weeks.

I’ve only completed 2 subtests of the WAIS so far (and not the performance subtests), so it will be interesting to see how my fluid intelligence measures go (I will be doing at least some of the performance subtests next week). I did hit the ceiling on the vocab subtest, but my digit span was only 6. The neuropsychologist did say that 6 was above average, but I don’t think it’s that huge - and isn’t currently supporting the flood of ideas that I’m trying to cope with, so I thought I’d give the dual n-back a go, along with MyBrainTrainer, and a couple of other reputable brain training sites.

I really struggled with n=2 when I started, and thought it would be amazing if I could reach a credible n=3 by the end of the first 19 days, so I’m bowled over by the results.

I’m going to show my neuropsychologist my progress, and maybe even ask if we could retest digit span in another month to see if there is any improvement.

Dual n-back isn’t an easy task, but I don’t really care about that - I’m willing to grind away at it. As far as I’m concerned this is now part of my permanent daily mental exercise regime.

This post was submitted by Michelle.