Talk-Polywell.org

From the home page wrote: http://brainworkshop.sourceforge.net/
Brain Workshop is a free open-source version of the Dual N-Back mental exercise.

A recent study published in PNAS, an important scientific journal, shows that a particular memory task called Dual N-Back may actually improve working memory (short term memory) and fluid intelligence. This finding is important because fluid intelligence was previously thought to be unchangeable. The game involves remembering a sequence of spoken letters and a sequence of positions of a square at the same time.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the dual n-back task also enhances focus and attention and may help improve the symptoms of ADHD/ADD.

From the author's FAQ wrote: http://community.haskell.org/~gwern/sta ... 20FAQ.html
To those whose time is limited: you may wish to stop reading here. If you seek to improve your life, and want the greatest ‘bang for the buck’, you are well-advised to look elsewhere.

Meditation, for example, is easier, faster, and ultra-portable. Typing training will directly improve your facility with a computer, a valuable skill for this modern world. Spaced repetition memorization techniques offer unparalleled advantages to students. Nootropics are the epitome of ease (just swallow!), and their effects are much more easily assessed - one can even run double-blind experiments on oneself, impossible with dual N-back. Other supplements like melatonin can deliver benefits incommensurable with DNB - what is the value of an extra hour of sleep compared to another slot in working memory? Modest changes to one’s diet and environs can fundamentally improve one’s wellbeing. Even basic training in reading, with the crudest tachistoscope techniques, can pay large dividends if one is, say, below a basic level of reading like 200WPM & still subvocalizing. And all of these can start paying off immediately.

DNB, on the other hand, requires a minimum of 15 hours before one can expect genuine somatic improvements. The task itself is unproven - the Jaeggi studies are suggestive, not definitive. Programs for DNB training rely essentially on guesswork as they explore the large design-space; there are no data on what features are essential, what sort of presentation optimal, or even how long or when to train for. The task itself is unenjoyable. It can be wearying, difficult & embarrassing.

So why then do I, at least, persevere with DNB?

I do it because I find it fascinating. Fascinating that WM can be so large a part of IQ; fascinating that it can be increased by an apparently trivial exercise. I’m fascinated that there are measurable gross changes in brain chemistry & activity - that the effects are not purely ‘mental’ or placebo. I’m fascinated by how the sequence of positions and letters can at some times appear in my mind with boundless lucidity, yet at other times I grope confused in a mental murk unsure of even what the last position/letter was - even though I can rise from my computer and go about normal activities normally; or with how time can stretch and compress during N-backing1. I’m fascinated by how a single increase in n-level can render the task nightmarishly difficult when I just finished n–1 at 90 or 100%. I’m fascinated by how saccading, another apparently trivial exercise, can reliably boost my score by 10 or 20%, and how my mind seems to be fagged after just a few rounds but recovers within minutes. I’m equally fascinated by the large literature on WM: what it is, what’s it good for, how it can be manipulated, etc.

I do not think that DNB is terribly practical - but interesting? Very.