What is Dual N-back training?
The central idea is that you are presented with two simultaneous series to keep
track of. Usually these are one series of letters spoken out loud, and another of spatial
locations on a 3 by 3 grid. Your task is to identify when either the current
letter or current location being presented is identical to one that was already
presented a certain number of items ago.
This number
is the ‘N’ in N-back. When you
start the N-back exercise, you will begin at the 2-back level. Every few
seconds one of the 8 squares of the grid lights up (the centre square isn’t
used) and at the same time a letter is spoken aloud. This will happen around 20
times and this is one complete set.
If during the set you correctly identify when either a
letter or location is presented 2-back at least 80% of the time, the exercise
increases N by 1. So you now move on to the 3-back level. If you manage to get
80% right at the 3-back level, N increases by 1 again to 4-back and so on. If you
get less than 40% right at any level, N decreases by 1. If you score anywhere
between 40% and 80% the next set will be at the same level again.
Does Dual N-back training increase intelligence?
In 2008, Suzanne Jaeggi, a researcher from the University of
Michigan, published a paper ,’Improving
fluid intelligence with training on working memory ‘, which showed
participants who had been performing daily 20 minute sessions of the Dual
N-Back exercise displayed transferrable, dose-dependant increases in fluid
intelligence (Gf).
So not only did their gains transfer over to a wide variety
of other tests and measures of intelligence, but the more they trained using the N-back exercise
the larger their increases in measures of fluid intelligence.
Jaeggi, and her colleagues followed up this work with a
further study published in 2010, ‘The relationship between n-back performance
and matrix reasoning — implications for training and
transfer’. This not
only replicated the results showing Gf and WMC were both enhanced by training
with the Dual N-back exercise, but also extended their findings by showing that participants who used the single n-back
variation also gained greater increases in Gf and WMC than controls.
A further study by Owen, McMillan, Laird and Bullmore; ‘N-back working memory paradigm: A
meta-analysis of normative functional neuroimaging studies ‘, contained a
meta-analysis of 24 studies that involved brain scans of participants while
performing the N-back exercise. This study
showed the significant cognitive demand being placed on participants through
the variety of brain regions that were consistently activated by performing
this task.
These and many more studies demonstrating both the
functional and anatomical changes that are induced by working memory training
leave little room for doubt, Dual N-back training can increase intelligence.
