Brain Fitness Tip: Dual n-Back

One of the most interesting findings in the field of computer-based cognitive training is based on a study by Susanne Jaeggi and her colleagues that showed that a specific kind of mental exercise can improve fluid reasoning ability. This finding is important and exciting for several reasons. One is the effect of a very small amount of training (as little as 20 minutes a day) on what many people think is a basic mental ability. The other is the idea that any kind of basic ability can be improved.

The computer-based training involves a procedure called n-back training. It’s been used for a long time in neuropsychological or cognitive assessment activities as a way to evaluate working memory. In single n-back, you have to remember, for example, the position of an object that appears intermittently in various positions on a computer screen. If you’re doing the task, you have to press a key on the computer when the object appears in the same place. In single n-back, you would watch to see if the object appears in the same two times in a row. If you are doing 2 n-back, then the object has to appear once in a specific place, then can appear somewhere else on the screen, and then appears again in the first position. The number refers to how many positions back you have to keep track of. It can go up to as many as 6 back.

In dual n-back, you have to do two n-back tasks at the same time. The other one can be auditory, for example. One task asks you to listen to numbers played on the computer’s speakers, with the same basic task. You have to remember whether a number you hear is the same as the one you just heard, or heard before the last one, and so on. It’s easier to understand if you try it out.

You can try it out in several places for free. It can be pretty challenging, but the original study showed that how well a person did the task didn’t matter so much as that the person did the task at the level that worked for them. Doing the task is a great way of training your attention, and another study has shown that this kind of training can make changes in the brain’s chemistry.

You can find try the task out at Soak Your Head (this site requires a browser plug-in called Silverlight, so you may see a message about installing it) and you can download a version for your own computer (free) at  Brain Workshop. Another free online version is at The Mindflow.

Brain Fitness Tip of the Week: Free Programs for Computer Training

One of the most publicized issues in brain fitness is computer-based training to help you improve your mental functions. Several companies advertise computer software programs to increase brain abilities. Some of these programs are pretty expensive, and when I’ve given talks to consumers I’m often asked whether they’re worth it.

Several studies have shown that computer training can improve mental abilities. It’s not clear that any one program is better than any other. Having worked with a number of these programs, I see some elements in common that I think are likely make them helpful.

Working with computers seems to help people develop sustained attention. When a computer is giving you new tasks like math problems every few seconds, you have to pay close attention for as long as you’re working. Some programs promote sustained attention to what you hear and others do it for what you see. Both modalities may be helpful.

Another cognitive ability that is improved by computer training is processing speed. Processing speed may be a key ability that underlies other mental abilities. We slow down as we age, but training is clearly effective in speeding us up.

One widely-cited study showed that a particular kind of working memory training (dual n-back task) improved performance on a measure of fluid intelligence. Fluid intelligence is the kind that declines most drastically with age, so this finding is especially intriguing.

So if you’re interested in maintaining and improving your brain fitness, it makes sense to spend some time every day in computer-based activities that engage your attention and demand that you think quickly. You can use one of the expensive computer packages, but I think you are likely to get similar effects from less expensive and even free programs. See my computer training page for links to computer training programs, with my comments on each. Click here to go to the computer training page.