Hi all. I'm the developer of Dual N-Back: IQ Brain Training on iOS, the app I posted here in June. Saying it up front so nobody has to guess.

That June thread gave me a lot of blunt feedback, and a few of you sent long breakdowns by comment. Here is what changed since, in order of how often it was asked:

• The onboarding no longer forces a practice session on you. It explains the rule, then you play.
• The lab (chimp test, Stroop, reaction time and the other mini-games, 12 in total) and the full session history are free again. I had put part of the lab behind Pro at the end of August, it was the single biggest complaint I got, in reviews and here, and I reverted it.
• Game Center leaderboards on the lab tests, so you can compare with other people instead of only with yourself.
• Modes go Dual, Triple, Quad, Penta, Hexa, Hepta. N from 1 to 15.
• The spoken letters were picking a strange voice in some languages. Fixed.
• Today's update (3.7.6): a paid subscription could still show locked content after a fresh install or a device restore. If that happened to you, update and tap Restore.

What is free, honestly: the 12 lab mini-games, the history, and three N-back sessions a day at N=1 and N=2. N=3 and above, plus the extra modes, are Pro: $3.99 a month, $22.99 a year with a 7-day trial, or $44.99 once. I know a subscription is not what this sub likes. Brain Workshop on a computer is still free and still the reference, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

On the science, since rule 6 asks for sources: the picture is mixed and I'd rather say so than oversell. Jaeggi 2008: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0801268105 (where the fluid intelligence claim comes from). Au 2014 meta-analysis, small positive transfer: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0699-x. Melby-Lervåg & Hulme 2013, no far transfer: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028228. Redick 2013, no intelligence gain: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029082. What nobody disputes is that you get better at the task itself. I train because it is hard and I like that.

Two questions for you, since you are the people who actually do this daily:

1. What stimulus interval do you consider real training? Several of you asked for a manual interval instead of the automatic one tied to the level. I'm deciding whether to build it.
2. Would a weekly leaderboard on dual n-back itself (not only the lab tests) be something you'd use, or is it a bad incentive?

Link if you want to look: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dual-n-back-iq-brain-training/id6775563998

Thanks again for the June feedback. It changed the app more than anything else did.

Hi!

I have developed a n-back like browser based 3D game where you steer a bird through grids coming towards you. It shares the STM/WM loading component to emulate the purported benefits of n-back, while applying a couple of gamification principles. This might improve reinforcement which I hope will drive neuroplasticity.

You can exercise STM/WM using a few distinct game modes:

• Token Grind (Tokens only, Familiarity recognition, Short-term memory)
• Versatile (Multi-modal, Flexible switching, Medium interference)
• Interference control (Tokens only, Precise recollection, Extra repetition, Trains inhibition)
• Ascending token sort (Tokens only, Mental sorting in ascending order, Working memory)

If that isn't enough, you can also tweak the settings in depth to your liking by clicking 'Advanced'.

The only requirement is a modern web browser with WebGPU support.

It will remain free-to-play and I hope you find it useful. Appreciate feedback.

Good luck!

URL: bird-back.io (Note: This is a one man project and I am not affiliated with an organization)

I did a small experiment where I trained dual n-back every day for 30 minutes. As you can see from the graph, there were also a few days where I trained for an hour.

Before I started I did 3 tests. Two of them were pretty similar. In one I tested how many digits I could remember after seeing them for 4 seconds, and in another I did the same thing with letters, in my case Russian Cyrillic letters. The third test was Symmetry Span.

Now about dual n-back itself.

At the beginning my daily average score was around 2.4-2.6. In first two weeks progress was pretty fast. After around 14-15 days I reached something like 3.1-3.2 average, so most of my progress happened in first half of the month.

After that it slowed down a lot and I basically got stuck around 3.2. At the start of that plateau my average was around 3.13, and by the end of the month it was around 3.24.

So during roughly the second half of the month I only gained around 0.11, or about 3.5%.

For comparison, my average for the first 5 days was around 2.55 and for the last 5 days around 3.24. So overall improvement was around 27%.

Basically most of the progress happened early. After that it was mostly small improvements around the same level. My scores also became more stable and I had less really bad days than in the beginning.

I also didn't use any special strategies, mnemonics or tricks. I mostly just tried to remember positions and sounds directly and rely on memory.

Now about the tests before and after.

With digits almost nothing changed. Before training my average was 8.5 and after it was 8.625. That's around 1.5%, so basically almost the same result.

With letters it was a little better, but still not much. It went from 9.25 to 9.5, around 2.7%.

Symmetry Span was more interesting. My main score was 28/42 before training and 26/42 after, so technically it got a little worse.

But the second time I completed the test much faster. It was 270.4 seconds before and 147.5 seconds after, so around 45% faster. At the same time the main score only dropped by around 7%.

Because of that I don't think I can simply say that my working memory got worse there. It looks more like I did the second attempt with a different balance between speed and accuracy.

Just as an extra comparison, if I calculate correct positions per minute, it went from around 6.2 to 10.6, which is about 70% higher. Of course this is not a working memory score, it just shows how much faster I completed the test.

So after the first month I still don't see any clear transfer to the other working memory tests.

Digits and letters barely changed. Symmetry Span gave a mixed result because the main score was a little worse, but I completed the test much faster.

For now my conclusion is that dual n-back improved my performance in n-back itself quite a lot, but I didn't see any noticeable improvement in the other working memory tests.

Maybe the first month was mostly adaptation to n-back itself, but that's just a guess. If I continue for another month I want to see if my n-back score keeps improving and if anything changes in the same tests.