N-back

The n -back test is a computerized psychological test (Continuous Performance Test), which is used to stimulate the brain activity of volunteers in methods of neuroimaging; He was introduced by Kirchner in 1958.

The test

The respondent is presented with a sequence of stimuli. The task is to indicate if the current stimulus matches the stimulus, which occurred in the series n steps before. The factor n can be adapted to the task to make it harder or easier.

For a 3 -back audio test, the list of characters that are heard, look something like this:

The respondent is press a button when the here highlighted in the list letters will be read, as they have already read three steps before.

Dual n -back

The dual -task n -back test was by Susanne Jaeggi et al.. proposed in 2003. In this variation, two independent stimuli are presented simultaneously, typically of different quality, such as auditory and visual.

This was discussed in some popular media, for example, in an article in Wired.. The methodology of the essay was criticized by David Moody. He considered the fact critical that different tests evaluated the control and the test group. He also questioned whether the fluid intelligence was examined valid by performing the tests. So it seemed the strict time limit to doubt (10 minutes were allowed to perform a test that normally took 45 minutes).

The study was re-released in 2010.

Two studies from the year 2012 could not show that dual n -back training has an effect on the fluid intelligence.

Science reported in 2009 that 14 hours of training led to a measurable change in the density of cortical dopamine receptors over 5 weeks.

Software Implementation

The dual n -back test can be played online, on many Java - enabled phones. For Mac OS, Linux, and Windows, there is a free, open source implementation called Brain Workshop.

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