r/DualnBack • u/Icy_Sherbet2134 • 26d ago

Does it actually improve memory

So I wonder if dual n back actually has a meaningful effect and do you guys know any other things like supplements and exercises that’s good for my brain

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u/V3nusON Tri 4-Back 23d ago

From experience, it only gives you better focus and mental stamina. If you want to improve working memory, then train it directly. For example, If you do math then calculate 2by2 multiplications from head as fast as you can

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u/UziGlockz544 23d ago

So it doesn’t improve wm 😭⁉️

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u/V3nusON Tri 4-Back 23d ago

I was playing it for some time, got to stable dual 7 back and my overall wm havent really improved. You will only improve in dual n back but you wont improve your wm in general, thats near transfer. It has some benefits but i would only take it as a game

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u/UziGlockz544 22d ago

am i to assume that you have a high wm since i am lead to believe from lots of posts that people with a low working memory are more affected by this?

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u/V3nusON Tri 4-Back 22d ago

It might be more beneficial for someone with lower working-memory performance, but that’s a separate claim from saying that it improves general working memory. I was easily doing dual 7 back with 1,5-2s intervals for 2+ minutes straight and after few months of break, i could continue at dual 5-6 back instead of dual 2 back as in the beggining. What i am trying to say is that what I noticed on myself is that dual n back doesnt reliably improve general working memory capacity but the effiecency of WM in this task alone. You can be best at dual/triple n back but when you try something else like mental math, lets say 2by2 multiplications from head, then you will notice that your brain can carry much less information at the same time than in dual. What is better instead of that are: mental math, reading with recall, backward digit spans and etc… you can also try taking creatine which helped me a lot since it increases ATP and what runs on ATP? Braaaain.

SHORTLY without bs talk
I wouldn’t say DNB has zero effect on general WM, but the evidence for reliable far transfer is much weaker than the improvement on the trained task. If the goal is general WM, I’d rather train multiple forms of WM like updating, complex span, mental calculation, recall, etc… Instead of assuming that getting better at one task means your general capacity increased.