Improve your fluid intelligence with BetterBrain Lite

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.
BetterBrain Lite in progress
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.
BetterBrain Lite visual feedback green BetterBrain Lite visual feedback red

Setting game parameters

You can choose the speed and length of the game with the button bar at the bottom. The slider changes the volume of the spoken letters.

Example

Step 1: You see BetterBrain Lite Screen and hear the letter A.
You should touch BetterBrain Lite Button, i.e. nothing.

Step 2: You see BetterBrain Lite Screen and hear the letter C.
You should touch BetterBrain Lite Button, i.e. nothing.

Step 3: You see BetterBrain Lite Screen and hear the letter D.
You should touch BetterBrain Lite Button, i.e. Visual because in step 1 the square was at the same spot but the letter was different.

Step 4: You see BetterBrain Lite Screen and hear the letter C.
You should touch BetterBrain Lite Button, i.e. Audio because in step 2 you heard the same letter but the square was at a different spot.

Step 5: You see BetterBrain Lite Screen and hear the letter D.
You should touch BetterBrain Lite Button, 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 BetterBrain Lite Screen and hear the letter C.
You should touch BetterBrain Lite Button, i.e. Audio because in step 4 you heard the same letter.

Step 7: You see BetterBrain Lite Screen and hear the letter A.
You should touch BetterBrain Lite Button, i.e. nothing because in step 5 the square was at a different spot and you heard a different letter.

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. Other iPhone/iPod Touch applications