[gwern]

> I just have to comment that in his page, I disagree on using dual n back as a measure of mental ability. As the mind repeats a task over and over it learns what to expect.

So?

> I personally view n-back as any other repetitive task, only it is mostly in the mind; the more you whittle, the better you will be at whittling.

Progress in n-back is very slow. I'm up to 2400 rounds and still am only at 30-50% on D5B; a difference of 10% is perfectly noticeable.

> If you look at the wikipedia page [1] you will see that there have been papers both for and against n-back improving cognitive ability.

The Wikipedia page is completely useless compared to my FAQ, but yes. That's not relevant to whether it is a useful way to measure variations in mental ability.

[dlytle]

While you're here, I wanted to say thanks for all the research you've done and posted. It's been really useful reading.

Also, holy crap, D5B. I still get crushed on D3B.

[gwern]

You're welcome.

Yeah, I struggled on D3B, like I did on D2B, D4B, D5B... It's really impressive how each level is a sudden massive jump in difficulty.