N-back exercise

I'll tell you a little about the exercise for the development of concentration and short-term memory.

The essence of the method lies in the continuous memorization of a sequence of symbols - sound and visual. It is necessary to mark the correspondence of the current symbol to the symbol represented by n-steps back. Hence the name - n-back.

For example, consider the sequence of alternately displayed numbers:

1 4 6 4 1 6 3

To perform the 2-back exercise, you must point out the matches of the current symbol with the symbol indicated 2 positions backwards (matches are marked in bold):

1 4 6 4 1 6 3

Indicate a match, in this example, it is necessary at the time of the appearance of the second digit 4.

To complete exercise 4-back, respectively:

1 4 6 4 1 6 3

You can use different sequences: colors, sounds, letters, character positions on a grid, simple geometric figures. To complicate the need to gradually increase the number of steps.
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The power of the method manifests itself in observations of several parallel stacks of symbols. For example, for sequences of shapes of different colors, it is necessary to indicate that not only the shapes of the shapes match, but also their colors, a few steps back. An exercise with two parallel sequences is called a double n-back.

In the future, the exercise can be complicated by increasing parallel flows and step size. Triple 5-back, arithmetic double 3-back - many options, and in each you can try different sequences of characters.

It is stated that the exercise is effective, but it is better to try it out on personal experience. It is worth starting with the simplest 1-back, the number of steps usually increases automatically when 80% of the correct answers are reached during a session. 20 minutes a day is enough.

You can use the program:
Brain Workshop on PC. Here is a guide to it in Russian.
Brain N-back for Android.