Improve your fluid intelligence with BetterBrain
Fluid intelligence is the ability to reason and solve new problems
independently of previously acquired knowledge (see also the reference which shows that the memory task you can
train with this program may improve your fluid intelligence).
How to train
When you push the start button you will see a blue square randomly
showing up on a 3 × 3 grid and simultaneously you will hear a
random letter. Your objective is to push the Audio button when
the letter you heard last was the same letter as the one you heard
before the previous one. Your other objective is to push the
Visual button when the square you currently see is at the same
position as the square you saw before the previous one.
See the example below for a typical sequence of events.
2-back task
Important: You need to detect the same letter or the same position
two steps back in the past, not only one! This is called the
2-back task.
Note that you might need to push both buttons simultaneously - or at
least before the next letter is announced respectively the square
changes its position.
Your score
The counters in green increase whenever you were right, i.e. you pushed
the button(s) when it was necessary. The counters in red increase when
you push the button when it was not necessary. Your total score is the
sum of all green points you earn minus the sum of all errors (red
points) you made or zero, whatever is larger.
Visual feedback
You will get visual feedback on the left part of the screen for the audio
portion and on the right part for the visual portion of the training. If you
push the correct button you will see a green check-mark flashing while for
incorrect button pushes a red cross will briefly show up.
Adapting the difficulty
If you make only few mistakes, the training will increase in difficulty and
you will be required to remember the status what happened 3 steps in the past.
The figure N in the middle indicates that you are currently working
on the N-back task. If you make too many mistakes, the training
difficulty will decrease automatically.
You can choose the speed and length of the game with the button bar at the
bottom.
You can also enable additional training channels and set the timing
and length of the rightmost game. Furthermore you can change the letters
being used. For this purpose use the
Settings button.
Example
Step 1: You see 
and hear the letter A.
You should touch 
, i.e. nothing.
Step 2: You see 
and hear the letter C.
You should touch , i.e. nothing.
Step 3: You see and hear the letter D.
You should touch 
, i.e. Visual because
in step 1 the square was at the same spot but the letter was different.
Step 4: You see 
and hear the letter C.
You should touch 
, i.e. Audio because
in step 2 you heard the same letter but the square was at a different spot.
Step 5: You see and hear the letter D.
You should touch 
, i.e. Audio
and Visual because in step 3 the square was at the same spot and you
heard the same letter.
Step 6: You see and hear the letter C.
You should touch , i.e. Audio because
in step 4 you heard the same letter.
Step 7: You see and hear the letter A.
You should touch , i.e. nothing because
in step 5 the square was at a different spot and you heard a different letter.
Settings
With the four switches you can selectively turn on the channels for the
different memory tasks:
- Audio - you hear random letters from the set you have chosen
under Letters.
- Position - you hear the sound randomly on your left, in the
middle or on your right.
- Visual - you see a square randomly showing up in eight
positions.
- Color - you see the square randomly getting one of four colors.
For example by turning the first two switches off and the third and fourth on,
you can play a purely visual oriented game. Selectively turning on just one
channel helps you practice a specific skill.
- Seconds per step determines the delay in seconds between
successive steps in the game of level 7. Touch to change the number.
- Flash determines how long in seconds the colored square will be
shown in the game of level 7. Touch to change the number.
- Points to earn determines how many points you can earn in
the game of level 7. Touch to change the number.
- Letters determines which letters are spoken. Touch to modify
the set of letters.
- Default Letter determines which letter is spoken if
the Audio switch is off but the Position switch is on.
Touch to modify the letter.
- Lookback delta determines how far in the past you want to go.
2 is the standard (2-back task) where you need to remember the status
before the previous one, i.e. two steps back in the past.
Increasing the lookback delta increases the difficulty
of this game significantly.
- Reset highscore resets the highscore earned so far.
- The slider changes the volume of the spoken letters.
If you want the changes to the settings to become effective, push the
Done button. Otherwise press Cancel to return to the game
without any changes to the settings. For example if you have accidentally
reset the highscore, just press the Cancel button and your old
highscore is still valid.
Reference
Susanne M. Jaeggi, Martin Buschkuehl, John Jonides, and Walter J. Perrig:
Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory
Author
© 2009 by Peter Schorn.
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