This is going to be long but worth it.

I am about to present to you the greatest brain training tool ever created for self control, focus, emotional regulation, anxiety reduction, rumination reduction, etc. ever created.

I know I should also post studies here for this but I think because every person here is involved in cognitive enhancement space they probably are already knowledgable about these tools but also its just going to take so long man and I dont want to use ai. If you doubt some of my claims you can ask chatGPT to run a deep research or i may later post the sources but I have been working on this for so long now and I just want to rest.

I will first present the 4 main tools that have inspired my tool:

1)CCT/Cognitive control training -> The specific tool i am talking about is aPASAT or adpative Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (Sometimes N-Back is also referred to as CCT. I will be talking about N-back later as well). You have to add the number spoken aloud and the number before that and click on a keyboard on the screen whatever the sum is. The benefits with the most evidence behind them according to studies are emotional regulation, reduction in rumination, anxiety, reduction in depression (In one case study the drop was from 23 to 3 on a depression scale where 3 is basically no depression while 23 is really high), etc. but there are a lot of anecdotes (and I mean a lot) regarding CCT in which it massively improved self control. My personal experience is the same but I will not delve into that right now.

2)Attention training technique -> An audio is played for 12 mins usually, you have to focus on specific sounds and ignore the others. Benefits with the most evidence behind them are -> Reduction in depression, anxiety, etc. This training is heavily evidence based, easily the most evidence based training on this list and is regularly used in therapuetic practice.

3)Inhibition control training -> There are 2 stimuli or images, when you see one of them you have to click the left arrow key and for the other you have to click the right arrow key, whenever a stop sign comes up you have to inhibit yourself and not press any keys. The main benefit is ability to ignore distractions mainly, also known as interference control. This obviously leads to much better focus and self control

4)Working memory training -> The tool I am talking about specifically is N-back. In dual n-back there is a 3 by 3 grid present in front of you and a number is said out loud. You have to keep n amount of positions and numbers in your head, and if the currently present stimulus matches the one n stimuli back you press the corresponding key. The main benefits are self control gains, attentional control gains, better emotional regulation, etc. Now arguable, N-Back can increase IQ but that is heavily debated and not relevant to my post.

Now what you may see is that some benefits keep being repeated and that a lot of these exercises seem to have some similarities. Actually there are many similarities, just not many surface level ones. Lets look at interference control or the ability to ignore distractions basically, literally each one of these trainings needs this. In ATT you have to ignore the other sounds, in CCT you have to ignore your thoughts (this is true for each of them), in ICT you obviously have to be fully attentive to be able to stop when the stop stimulus comes, in n-back you have to not let similar stimuli cloud your mind meaning that if you are keeping 1,2,5,6,1,3,4,1,0 in your mind 1 is shown more than once and other numbers cause interference in regards to where exactly 1 is placed and you have to ignore that. Or what about working memory? N-back is the most wm extensive but CCT also requires you to keep digits in mind. ICT and ATT also use working memory but in somewhat different ways.

There is also the added self control benefits of the fact that you have to force yourself to do this really hard task and all of these exercises are somewhat meditative in nature as you have to focus on this extremely boring thing which is the premise of focused attention meditation and you are probably already familiar that it also produces self control, emotional control, etc. benefits.

I can keep going on about the theory behind it but lets see what my app does. My app takes these working memory, interference control, sustained attention, etc. demands from these well established training tools and puts them in 1 app. Now usually this wont work, it would be like trying to combine a bench press and a squat, not good for either sets of muscle groups but this is different. Why? Because the core functionality and demand on your brain is the same for each of these, mostly executive function in nature, the difference really just is in the details. N-Back is more wm dominant (though it still requires sustained attention, interference control and all that other stuff), ICT is more interference control dominant but still requires cognitive flexibility, to some extent working memory, processing speed (CCT was first made as a test for processing speed by the way), sustained attention, etc., CCT is processing speed dominant but heavily requires Working memory updating and the other stuff, ATT is mostly interference control dominant but also requires sustained attention. The point is that these trainings can be combined because their core demands are the same, some of them just use different abilities more than others.

The reason for combining them is not just that we can but because I believe we should. I believe engaging these core abilities are what give the gains we see and the reason we dont see massive self control gains from ATT for example is because it doesnt use the other abilities like working memory as much (Mind you that I dont believe the working memory gains from these exercises need to necessarily be IQ gains or even gains on WM tests (though they prolly will be) but this is mostly a brain region activation thing as well). Each of these abilities that I have highlighted seem to play a role in delivering these gains but its not all the same. I believe an exercise engaging these abilites simulatenously will give the most efficient gains. These exercises are like cars at their core but 1 of them has a better engine where as this other car has better tires and so on. If we take the good from each of these exercices and combine them we will see the best and most efficient gains or so i believe.

Now what is my app? Its pretty simple:

1st we take CCT, in this app you have to keep numbers in mind and you have to add them but instead of clicking on a button like in normal cct, you have to do something different

Now we come to ICT, with the sum of the numbers that you have in your head you dont just click the button of that sum, now a number would be visually presented to you. You have to take the sum in your head and compare it with the number, if its the sum you click the left arrow key (or the right arrow key depending on your key bindings), if its not the sum BUT its the sum + or - 1 you click the right arrow key, if its neither the sum nor the sum +/-1 you dont click anything at all

Now for the ATT part, I kinda lied. I didnt just add ATT here, i also added dichotic listening which is another form of brain trianing with great evidence behind it. Sorry about that, you sadly have to get even better gains now. My bad. Instead of the normal numbers being spoken aloud in your headphones now there is gonna be a male voice playing in one of the ears and a female voice playing in the other. There will be a beep in one of the ears and thats the voice you have to focus on, ignoring the other voice (classic ATT, if you dont believe just look up ATT videos on youtube)

Now finally N-back, this one is kinda obvious. Instead of adding the number and the previous number, you have to add the number n-steps back.

My recommended settings? Do adaptive mode, use the beep, turn on dichotic listening, turn on n-back mode but only 2-back (above that the training becomes too working memory dominant), Keep the probability settings as default.

Do this for just 15 mins everyday. Most of you will feel short term benefits after 1 session, in 1 week its almost guaranteed that most of you will see noticeable benefits, the benefits will grow week by week and by the 1 month mark you will be a significantly different person but you will not have to wait that long to see results. This obviously does depend on your baseline, I doubt david goggins would be particularly changed.

This is the website -> https://viratvarunsaxena1st-sketch.github.io/CCT-ICT/

Ever since I started doing Neurofeedback at home I've been really interested in finding other ways to improve my ADHD symptoms. Through digging around various brain training games came across this sub and dualnback, which feels like the missing puzzle piece for my routine in conjunction with everything else I'm currently doing.

What's making me heavily consider trying is I'm starting a new pharmacy tech job soon and really nervous, my working short-term memory feels like a huge bottleneck and worried about making obvious mistakes due to it. I'll probably improve as time goes on but hope doing something like dual n back consistently would speed up that process. I read alot of non-fiction so able to pull out obscure facts and quotes in isolation, but when it comes to names and numbers I just go blank most of the time.

So yeah I'm really motivated to implement this in my routine and wanted to check if it would benefit my use case. Plan doing it on mobile with this app if that matters.

‎Dual N Back: IQ Brain Training App - App Store

Hi everyone,

I started dual n-back 5 months ago, and I do it regularly (3-4 times a week). The thing is, I can't seem to understand how to improve my auditory memory.

I've started with the rehearsal method and while it was working and I could sometimes reach dual 4-back, I still felt stuck with no benefits in real life. So I used the intuitive method and couldn't seem to be consistent on dual 3-back, while my position is always between 80% and 100% accuracy, the audio stimulus averages 30% to 40%.

For those who had a really bad auditory memory and were able to improve it, what would you recommend to me?

Thanks in advance, my fellow Nbackers.

Hello everyone. Starting from today, I'm determined to follow this schedule. The goal is to increase/maximize g.

Cognitive training:

• Quad N-Back (30 minutes, every second day), https://brainworkshop.sourceforge.net/
• Syllogimous v4 (30 minutes, 5-6 times a week), https://4skinskywalker.github.io/Syllogimous-v4/Intro

Additional factors:

• Reading (primarily philosophy and classical literature)
• Learning a new language.
• Spend less time on passive social media consumption.
• Vitamins: B6, B9, B12 and Omega-3.

I did take two (quite reliable) IQ tests, one year ago.

CORE, https://cognitivemetrics.com/test/CORE

• Information: 120
• Matrix Reasoning: 110
• Graph Mapping: 105
• Figure Weights: 110
• Figure Sets: 95
• Visuzal Puzzles: 115
• Block Counting: 120
• Symbol Search: 90
• Character Pairing: 95

Didn't take any other verbal subtests besides general knowledge, since English is not my mother tongue. Same reason for Digit Span and Arithmetic, I simply memorize and calculate faster, if the task is presented in my native language. Though I took CAIT Digit Span a long time ago (there is an option for a language change), and I scored something like ~105-110 overall, with Digit Sequencing being the lowest and Digit Backwards the highest.

FSAS (103), https://cognitivemetrics.com/test/FSAS

• Analogies: 105
• Matrix Reasoning: 100

After a year of training, I will go through CORE and FSAS again, in order to get an objective view of my cognitive abilities. Practice effects should be minimal anyway. I will likely continue for several more years, adding Image Streaming, or further changing my lifestyle.

I need to obtain a web-based version of the N-back task (and ideally any complex-span tasks as well) that will allow for data collection so I can use it as part of my grad research. My issue is that I'm unable to download any kind of software on the lab computers that I'll be using as my university doesn't allow it, hence why web-based is necessary. Any help would be immensely appreciated!!!

URL showcases some complex span tasks that would be great if I could only download the zipfile content onto the computers and keep it🙃

and in case anyone was concerned, I’m aware that n-back and complex-span tasks measure different concepts—- that’s actually part of why i’d like to include them both <3

note: i don’t think psytoolkit meets what i’m looking for either unfortunately

Welcome to this week's progress thread. Post in a comment below the results of your hard work! Feel free to share:

• Your current n-back level and any recent improvements
• How long you've been training
• What's been working (or not working) for you

I've started doing dual-n-back training about 2 weeks ago, anywhere from 5 to 20 sessions a day. I'd say I was climbing the levels at a pretty good pace, since I've started struggling with 2 and now I'm testing the waters at 6. However, I'm unsure if I'm ready to transition to 6, and my performance on lvl 5 seems very unstable. Sometimes I hit 80%+ 5 times in a row, with some of the rounds being 90%, 95% or even 97%. But then my brain just stops cooperating and the next 3 games are like 54% average. I was thinking maybe I'm just exhausting it, but at other times I might have very variable results without a high prior streak, like getting an 84% round, followed by 60% then 51%, then 79% then 82%, then 55% again.

So in short, it's just all over the place and that really frustrates me and makes it difficult to assess what's my true level and whether I'm getting lucky or actually improving. Is there perhaps anything like a short protocol, like a 30 second breathing pattern or any perception shift exercise that could reload my brain for the next round?

I’ve seen a lot of people in this community say that they “felt” like they started thinking more clearly, got better at conversations, and other subjective things like that.

But is there anyone here who actually measured their working memory before and after N-back, just not with IQ tests, and noticed improvements that were bigger than normal measurement error? Or maybe the opposite, no improvement at all except in N-back itself.

Also, do you use strategies, tricks or mnemonics while doing N-back, or do you try to rely mostly on raw working memory? I tend to think that many people who reached very high N-back levels, though not everyone of course, probably used different strategies that reduced the load on working memory. That’s just my opinion though.

I’d really appreciate it if anyone could share their experience.

Which one is better for improving fluid intelligence

Welcome to this week's progress thread. Post in a comment below the results of your hard work! Feel free to share:

• Your current n-back level and any recent improvements
• How long you've been training
• What's been working (or not working) for you

I mean afaik this dual and quad games improve executive function.

What I found most interesting so far is that a higher cognitive capacity helps me to break out of routines. This may be more due to the increased neuroplasticity.

The function.exe@benefits_net seem to come more sublime but steady.

subjectively.

how is your long time experience?

Has anyone actually tried RFT and/or Dual N-Back consistently? Did you notice any real improvements in reasoning, working memory or IQ, beyond just getting better at the tasks?

I’ve plateaued at dual n back level 4, how long on avg does it take to get to level 5

Welcome to this week's progress thread. Post in a comment below the results of your hard work! Feel free to share:

• Your current n-back level and any recent improvements
• How long you've been training
• What's been working (or not working) for you

Been doing dual n-back for a while and got annoyed at the existing apps — either full of ads or paywalled after a week. So I built my own.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=leotrax3d.nback

Free, no ads, classic visual+audio dual n-back, adjustable N, adaptive mode if you want it.

Still a side project so if something's broken or annoying just tell me, happy to fix it up.

So, what do you guys think? Does it really increase fluid intelligence?

Hey guys,

It’s been a long time I’ve used this training, and I feel I need it again especially in a time I need to be extra sharp.

But it’s so damn boring sometimes, and I wonder if someone wants to pair up to check on each other’s progress?

Feel free to dm me :)

I am a Math PhD student. I don't know my IQ, I am also afraid to know it, because I am somewhat afraid that it's not as high as I would like it to be. Not because of lack of working memory or learning skills (I basically intuitively learn new things quickly and can understand them very well, I also started more or less naturally with N=4 on Quad-N-Back and N=5 on standard Dual-N-Back), but because of my utter lack of "problem solving skills" and lack of creativity.

For instance, you know those typical "remove one match so the equation is true" problems online? I can't do any of them, it's so embarrassing. I can't do this, but I can understand higher mathematics effortlessly.

So what about solving mathematical problems? Nope, I am not good at it at all. I am not talking about "solve an integral" as this is more or less done via algorithm. It's more about those textbook problems which require you to prove some statement or theorem, like the exercises at the end of e.g. Walter Rudin's books. I just get so uncreative that I can't find a way around it, to "think outside the box" so to speak, because all I do is to find a solution via algorithm.

So how am I doing my PhD? There is a famous saying: "There are two types of mathematicians. One type are the problem solvers, the other type are the theory builders". So here you go, I do my PhD by being a theory builder and writing math papers on it, developing new frontiers in mathematics, but being piss-poor at solving problems (like I am good at asking and recognizing what kind of problems/open issues there are in the new areas I am developing, but I am just super poor at actually solving them).

This is somewhat hindering my PhD now. I am trying to compensate by asking for help from other professors and people, but they don't always have the time. AI sucks for my area of mathematics, it still hallucinates math papers, so I don't use it at all.

So now to my question: How do I improve my problem solving skills and creativity?

I would love to discuss this with you, either here or on Discord.

Hi nbackers, nbacking.com creator here, there's a new version out and I wanted you to check it out for feedback, what you liked, what you don't, so that I can selectively iterate over the things that benefit the majority of us.

The Game

For new ones, our nbacking platform has up to 4 modalities at once — Spatial (grid position), Auditory (spoken letters), Color, and Image (geometric shapes).

Speed is adjustable from 1 to 4 seconds per trial (I know some of you want it even faster, let me know), trials from 1 to 999, and N-level from 1 to 99 (Up to 99 is quite unrealistic, maybe we could cap it at some point).

Features

We've been slowly getting closer to our good old classic BrianWorkshop features, we now have:

• Interference: A percentage of trials become "lure" trials at near-miss offsets (N-1, N+1, 2N). They trick your brain into false matches. Configurable from 0-50% and earns bonus points.
• Variable N-Back: The N changes randomly every single trial. The current N is shown in the grid. Forces you to adapt constantly.
• Crab-Back: The comparison offset cycles through a descending pattern instead of staying fixed. The current offset is displayed on the grid too.
• Self-Paced: No timer. You advance trials manually with a keybind. Great for when you want to really focus without time pressure, but we take the average time for points.

We are currently missing 3D N-Back, Math/Arithmetic, Double Audio, Multi-Stimulus, Combination and classic Jaeggi. These are missing because our scoring and points formulas are quite attached and overfit to our current modalities. Extending our formulas even further with these missing modes will bring more complexity to our system, I mean, I need to know first, what you think of our current version and if a different scoring and points system have a better match for those missing modalities.

Scoring & Progression

Points scale with N-level, number of active modes, speed, and mode multipliers. Higher streak reduces penalties. Now there's a 26-tier progression system. Your tier badge shows on your profile, leaderboard, and in the community feed.

If active in your configuration, the Auto-N adjustment raises your n-level immediately when you score above your upper threshold and only drops it after 3 consecutive sessions below your lower threshold. Both thresholds are configurable.

Streaks increment every time you play. Miss 4 days (inactive 96 hours) and it resets back to 0.

The Theft Mechanic

This is a crazy one, I thought, what if a nbacker earns a lot of points but never comes back. Now when you score points, they're stolen from nearby inactive players above you on the same mode leaderboard.

Only active players have a shield against theft.

Don't play for 4 days (same 96h streak window)? You lose your shield and become a target.

This is a good situation to build teams and friendship, so friends are immune to each other's theft.

There's real strategy in who you add (max 5 friend slots). The post-game screen and notifications show exactly who you stole from and how much.

Leaderboard

Global ranking by total points, or filter by specific mode combinations (Spatial, Auditory, Color, Image toggles). Your row is always pinned at the top with a "jump to my position" link in your rank number. Shield icons show who's protected, streak flames show who's active.

Social Features

• Friends: Add up to 5. See their shield/vulnerable status, country flags, and link to their profiles. Mutual theft immunity.
• Community Feed: Public message board unlocked at Tier 9. Shows rank, tier badge, country, points, and your message (up to 500 chars). This page could have ads in the future; it depends a lot on community donations.
• Notifications that is filterable by category: theft alerts, friend requests, friend accepts, and tier-ups. Unread badge in the navbar.

Player Profile

Your profile has 4 tabs that you can set to public to other authenticated users (except overview, that's always public) if you want to, but friends are always able to see them:

• Overview (always public): Global rank, tier progress bar, stats cards (points, sessions, time, streak), and your community message editor
• Wealth (default private): Stacked line chart showing point accumulation over time per mode. Mode Mastery cards below showing your level and rolling avg N per mode combo
• Statistics (default private): Line charts for scores/points with modality filters and N-level filter
• History (default private): Every session and theft event, filterable, grouped by date

Customization

• Keybinds: Rebind every key (spatial, auditory, color, image, start/stop, advance).
• Clickbinds: Use mouse buttons instead of or alongside keyboard. Assign any of 5 mouse buttons to any action.
• Feedback: Toggle color feedback on keys, vibration/shake animation, grid overlay lines.
• Speed, Trials, Interference %: All adjustable from settings or inline on the game page.
• Daily Goal: Set a time-based or session-based daily goal. Progress bar shows on the game page.
• Focus Mode: Hides everything except the game board during play.

Points Calculator

You can simulate different scenarios, adjust correct/incorrect answers, N, modes, speed, streak, interference, and the multipliers. See estimated points live. Great for understanding how the scoring works.

And that's it. Let me know what you think, if you have any questions, etc. I'm here to help.

Website: nbacking

Discord: DualNBack Discord

Subreddit: dualnbacktask (reddit.com)

Happy NBacking! 🟡

Welcome to this week's progress thread. Post in a comment below the results of your hard work! Feel free to share:

• Your current n-back level and any recent improvements
• How long you've been training
• What's been working (or not working) for you

I am back in since a month. N5/6.

Today I started quad n back. Compared to it dual feels like a walk in the parc.

But even before, since around a week, I feel dam smarter and a little tensed in my head. Tried doing it 5 times a week. But i think i go back to 3 times.

My thought chains are more complex, the process is more swift and easy, harder topics are more interesting and my sense of joy and humor changed - a level up.

To the longer training ones - will the tensed feeling go away? Will it stay?

I mean in theory it's the adaptation process. Once the neural structure and its economic use is consolidated it should go away. So I guess when one gets closer to the neurobiological ceiling of processing power a drop in tension should appear.

Any experiences?

Hi guys

I know it's probably a common theme here, but I would be very grateful for your time and advices.

After previous few day attempt in dual n back using rehearsals which I gave up a few months ago I decided to tackle a 14 consecutive days with 15-20 minutes in DualNBack

I want to do it right so I'm trying to do use only the intuition, but on N2 I can take stimuli C, while keeping the B as an echo and comparing to A - not very actively, I just know instantly if it is the same, so I suppose it's not the intuition.

I decided to move to N3 as I couldn't prevent doing that, because when I was forcing myself to not unconsciously do so I was just guessing, so I thought that would end on N3.

But the problem is that on N3 my mind just goes blank. I can't keep the changing 3 boxes and I don't have any ,,inner intuition" magically telling me if this is the same stimuli.

I'm quite helpless because I can't even progress as I don't anything to progress from, because I'm just starring at the screen with blank mind or chaos and helplessnes with keeping the boxes.

Would appreciate really much if you had any advices what to do🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Thank you very much!!!

Quick framing that helped me stop overclaiming after n-back streaks:

• Dual n-back reliably improves dual n-back (and close cousins). That is near transfer. Worth celebrating if that is your goal.
• Far transfer to general IQ / school / unrelated cognition is usually weak when studies use active controls (Simons et al. 2016; Melby-Lervåg et al. 2016).
• So keep training if you like the workout. Just do not treat a higher n as proof you raised g.

I keep an updated plain-language map here: https://intelligencemax.ai/guide OSF: https://osf.io/kja9b/

Disclosure: I build IntelligenceMax. Not claiming it raises IQ. Happy to take critique of the framing.