N-Back Memory Training

Researchsuggeststhatn-backtrainingmayleadtogainsinfluidintelligence(IQ)andworkingmemoryability(Soverietal.,2017).IfyourateN-BackMemoryTraininglessthanfivestars,pleaseleaveacommentsothatIcanaddressyourconcerns;Itrulyvalueyourfeedback.Instructions:Theobjectofthegameistoholdvariousitemsinyourworkingmemoryandactivelyupdatetheseitemsasthegameprogresses.Witheachnewtrial,pressthematchbuttonifthecurrentitemmatchestheitemthatoccurredagivennumberoftrialsinthepast.Theterm“n-back”denoteshowmanytrials(n)inthepastyouneedtoremember.Bydefault,youwillbeginon2-back,sopressthematchbuttonifthecurrentitemmatchestheitemthatoccurred2trialsbackinthepast.Forasimpledemonstrationofhowtoplaysingle2-back,seethisvideo:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSPOjA2rR0M.Options:N-BackMemoryTrainingallowsyoutochoosefromadiversesetofitemstostoreinworkingmemory:•thepositionofasquareona3x3grid•sounds(letters,numbers,orpianonotes)•images(shapes,nationalflags,sportsequipment)•colorsBydefault,theappstartsondualn-back,usingpositionsandsounds(letters).The“dual”indualn-backsimplydenoteshowmanydifferentitemtypesyouwillneedtoremember.Youmaychooseanycombinationofitemtypes,fromsinglen-backtoquadn-back.TrackProgressandCompetewithOtherUsers:Trackyourdailyprogressusingcustomizable,interactivegraphs.Youcanalsocompareyourhighscorestootherusersaroundtheworldinreal-timewithpremiummode(upgradeavailablewithintheapp).Scoring:N-BackMemoryTrainingmeasuresyourworkingmemoryaccuracyusingthediscriminationindexA'fromsignaldetectiontheory(Stanislaw&Todorov,1999).A’generallyrangesfrom0.5(randomguessing)to1.0(perfectaccuracy).AscoreofA'>=0.90advancesyoutothenextlevel,andascoreofA'Details:A'=.5sign(H-F)*((H-F)^2abs(H-F))/(4*max(H,F)-4*H*F)whereHitRate(H)=hits/#signaltrialsFalse-positiveRate(F)=falsepos/#noisetrialsseeStanislaw&Todorov(1999)LureTrials:WithinSettings,youcancontrolthepercentageofluretrials,whichmakethetaskmoredifficult.Luretrialspresentstimulithatoccurredn-backplusorminusonetrial.Thatis,theyareoffsetonetrialfromthetargettrial(n-back).Customize:Ifyouwanttochangethegamespeed,thenumberoftrials,oranythingelse,simplygotoSettings>SelectMode>ManualMode.Fromthere,youcancustomizevirtuallyanything.Youcanalsocustomizetheapp’sappearancebycreatingyourowncustombackgroundusingcolorgradients.YoucanfindtheseoptionstowardthebottomoftheSettingsmenu.Pleasesendanycomments,questions,orconcernstonback.memory.training@gmail.com.Thanksforplaying!E.A.L.---ReferencesSoveri,A.,Antfolk,J.,Karlsson,L.,Salo,B.,&Laine,M.(2017).Workingmemorytrainingrevisited:Amulti-levelmeta-analysisofn-backtrainingstudies.Psychonomicbulletin&review,24(4),1077-1096.Stanislaw,H.,&Todorov,N.(1999).Calculationofsignaldetectiontheorymeasures.Behaviorresearchmethods,instruments,&computers,31(1),137-149.In-appbackgroundimagecredit:Réseaudeneurones.Ifthenelse/Wikimedia,CCBY-SA