BrainTwister A collection of Cognitive Training Tasks

Martin Buschkuehl, Susanne M. Jaeggi, Adrian Kobel, & Walter J. Perrig

A collection of cognitive training tasks

Version 1.1.0

Department of Psychology Division of Experimental Psychology and Neuropsychology ©2010

Table of Contents

1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1

2. Installation ............................................................................................................... 2

2.1 System requirements ......................................................................................... 2

2.2 Installation process ............................................................................................ 2

3. Graphical User Interfaces ........................................................................................ 3

3.1 The simple main window .................................................................................... 4

3.2 The extended main window ............................................................................... 7

3.2.1 Defining a standard user ............................................................................. 8

3.2.2 Single automatic user mode ........................................................................ 8

3.2.3 Multiple automatic users mode .................................................................... 9

4. The training tasks .................................................................................................. 11

4.1 Senso (sequence learning) .............................................................................. 12

4.2 Visuo-spatial training........................................................................................ 14

4.3 Cat and dog span ............................................................................................ 16

4.4 Animal span ..................................................................................................... 20

4.5 Safari Training and Farm Training ................................................................... 21

4.5.1 Farm training: Specific instructions for children ......................................... 23

4.6 N-back Training ............................................................................................... 28

4.6.1 Visuo-spatial N-back training ..................................................................... 30

4.6.2 Auditory N-back training ............................................................................ 32

4.6.3 Dual N-back training .................................................................................. 34

4.7 Training recommendations .............................................................................. 36

5. Training performance ............................................................................................ 37

6. Scientific proof of efficacy ...................................................................................... 40

7. Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... 41

BrainTwister Introduction

1

1. Introduction

BrainTwister is a platform independent application that allows training of par-

ticipants on six working memory based training tasks in different variants. The train-

ing paradigms were developed in various research projects carried out by the Divi-

sion of Experimental Psychology and Neuropsychology at the University of Bern,

Switzerland. The training tasks can be used for participants over their whole lifespan

in either a single or a group setting. There are no computer–related skill requirements

in order to train with these tasks. BrainTwister generates detailed training data for

each training task and allows visualizing and printing the training performance. For

scientific purposes, detailed training data is saved for each training session. Current-

ly, BrainTwister is available in six different languages (English, German, Swedish,

Dutch, French and Italian).

BrainTwister Graphical User Interfaces

2

2. Installation

2.1 System requirements

Windows

Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7

Pentium IV with at least 1GHz

256 MB RAM

Approximately 60 MB free hard disk space

Apple Macintosh

Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.6

Approximately 40 MB free hard disk space

2.2 Installation process

Go to the installation guide for further instructions on how to install the pro-gram. Additionally, answers to frequently asked questions are available on www.braintwister.unibe.ch.

http://www.braintwister.unibe.ch/

BrainTwister Graphical User Interfaces

3

3. Graphical User Interfaces

BrainTwister has 3 different graphical user interfaces (GUI), which were de-

signed to meet requirements for a broad variety of situations:

Training in a single setting for a user with average computer skills.

Training in a single setting for a user with no computer skills (in this case,

training is possible with supervision).

Training in a group setting in which more than one user trains on the same

computer.

For each of these situations, there are different GUIs which were optimized for

the appropriate setting. Each of these GUIs will be described in detail below. For the

use at home, the most relevant chapter is 3.1.

BrainTwister Graphical User Interfaces -> The simple main window

4

3.1 The simple main window

The simple main window was designed for independent and individual use,

such as at home. It is the standard GUI that appears when BrainTwister is started for

the first time. With a click on the BrainTwister Icon, the program can be started:

If BrainTwister is started the first time, the following simple main window will

be shown:

In order to save and present the accumulated individual training results in a

meaningful way (see also chapter 5 – Training curves), it is necessary to define who

is going to train before a training is started. Thus, before starting the training, the user

must be defined. For this, first write a user name in the empty field labelled as .

Then, the user can be saved by clicking on the button “Save user” (labelled as in

the above figure) somewhere in the file system:


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The most recently used user is automatically loaded when you restart Brain-

Twister. If a user has been saved already by using this method, this user can be re-

loaded with a click on the button “Load user”. If a user is already loaded and one

would like to create a new user, click on the button “New user” in order to clear the

name field (labelled in the figure) and enter a new user name. In order to properly

analyze the training data later on, it is absolutely necessary that the same person

always trains with the same saved user name. The training cannot be started without

defining a current user, because BrainTwister does not save the data properly in

such cases.

At the same place where the user has been saved, BrainTwister generates a

folder named “<Name of the user>_sessionData_BrainTwister”. All the training data

are saved in this folder: BrainTwister generates a data file for each training session.

In this file, all the information about the particular training session is stored. This in-

formation is needed to reconstruct a training session in detail and to see how the us-

er performed in the training. BrainTwister user files always use the suffix “.brt”.


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After defining a user, you have to select one of the available training tasks ().

You can do this by selecting a training task on the left side of the main window. The

following training tasks are available and are discussed in more detail in Chapter 4:

Senso (in 3 different variants)

Visuo-spatial training

Cat and Dog span

Animal span

N-back (in 3 different variants)

Safari training and Farm training (especially for children)

You can select a training task by clicking on the corresponding button (refer to

in the figure).

For the training tasks “Cat and Dog Span”, “Animal Span”, “Safari Training”

and “Farm training”, the time which is available for the decision can be varied in the

menu bar. If “preferences” is selected in the menu bar, different delay limits (slow: 4s;

normal: 3s; fast: 2s) can be selected by clicking on the appropriate button ().

Under “Training duration” () you can choose how long the training will last

(this is ideal, for example, for a group training), or whether you want to train for a cer-

tain amount of trials. The corresponding value can be entered in the nearby text field

(see in the figure).

Under “Initial level of difficulty” (see in the figure), the initial difficulty level of

the training can be specified.

A defined training as described here can be saved in a user file. In order to do

this, click on “Save user” and save the defined training together with the user name

somewhere in your file system (see also above). If this user will be reloaded, then the

defined training will be reloaded as well.

Training can be started by clicking on the “Start” button. At the end of the train-

ing, BrainTwister will return to the main window. Training results can be seen by

clicking on the “Statistics” button (also refer to Chapter 5).

There are several different language flags in the upper right corner of the main

window. A click on one of these flag changes the language of BrainTwister.

The help function is located in the menu bar. “Manual” can be selected there,

so that this manual will be opened. The English manual will open for all languages

except for German. If “Website” is selected in the help menu, a direct connection to

the website of the program is established if the computer is connected to the Internet.

Many of the available functions in the main window are also available in the

menus: File, Window, Preferences, Help.

BrainTwister Graphical User Interface -> The extended main window

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3.2 The extended main window

The extended main window is very similar to the simple main window (Chapter

3.1) but provides a couple of additional functions that allow a broader use of the train-

ing program. You can get to the extended main window by pressing “SHIFT + CTRL

+ ALT + A” simultaneously. If you press this combination again, you can get back to

the simple main window. The extended main window looks like this:

As in the simple main window, a user can be defined on the right side of the

window. But now, additional information such as age, gender, handedness, length

and type of education can be entered. In the case of a research project, you can also

enter a study name. As before, you can create new users, and load and save them. If

a user that was saved in the simple main window is loaded in the extended main

window, the text “Easy-GUI” will appear automatically in the field “Study name”. In

this case, the extended user information is filled with default values (i.e. with 0).

On the left side of the main window, the same training types are available as in

the simple main window. Similarly, the training duration and the initial training level of


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difficulty can be defined. As in the simple main window, many functions are also

available in the following menus: File, Window, Preferences, Help.

The important changes compared to the simple main window can be found in

the lower right corner of the extended main window: here, you have the possibility to

define a standard user or to choose one of the two automatic modes:

3.2.1 Defining a standard user

With a click on the button “Define automatic user”, the currently loaded user is

defined as a default user; that is, each time BrainTwister will be started from now on,

this user will be loaded automatically. To repeat: BrainTwister normally starts (refer to

chapters 3.2.2 and 3.2.3) with the simple main window, therefore only the name of

the defined user is visible.

After defining a standard user, the two options “Single automatic user mode”

and “Multiple automatic users mode” become available. Additionally, the button “Se-

lect path” is available as well. The two modes are discussed in the following chap-

ters.

3.2.2 Single automatic user mode

When this mode is activated, BrainTwister does not start with the simple main

window but with the following autostart window:

Now, the user has no options available. The idea behind this autostart window

is to be able to start a predefined training very easily. With this mode, a training user

only has to know how to start the computer and how to make a doubleclick on the

BrainTwister Icon in order to start the training. The training can than be started by

clicking on “Start”.


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If “SHIFT + CTRL + ALT + A” is pressed simultaneously, the extended main

window is shown again. By deactivating the “Single automatic user mode”, the simple

main window is shown again by default after a new start of BrainTwister.

3.2.3 Multiple automatic users mode

The single automatic user mode as described in Chapter 3.2.2 is limited be-

cause the training can only be predefined for one single user. In order to let several

different users train with a simplified user interface, the multiple automatic users

mode was implemented. If this option is activated, BrainTwister shows the following

window after a new start:

A previously saved user name can now be typed in the text field (“Please enter

user name.”) on the top of the window. If an existing user name is entered, the prede-

fined training for this user can be started be clicking on the “Start” button.

This mode is useful if different people are supposed to train with the same

computer and the interaction with the computer should be kept to a minimum. In or-

der to use this mode, a separate user file (including its training definitions) must be

saved for every potential user. All user files must be saved in the same folder of the

file system. This folder can be specified by clicking on the button “Select path”.

BrainTwister automatically selects the folder of the currently loaded user if the Multi-

ple automatic users mode is activated. If a user name is entered that does not exist

already (for example because of a typo), BrainTwister shows the following error mes-

sage:


10

After a click on the button “OK”, the user name can be entered again. By sim-

ultaneously pressing “SHIFT + CTRL + ALT + A”, the extended main window can be

reopened and the multiple automatic users mode can be deactivated again.

BrainTwister The training tasks

11

4. The training tasks

After having explained the GUIs of BrainTwister, we will now turn to the de-

scription of the different training tasks.

All tasks included in BrainTwister are based on the same idea: With these

tasks, we aim to train cognitive processes and functions that underlie a wide array of

non-trained tasks. The goal would be that after training, in addition to an improve-

ment in performance on the trained task, there should also be an improvement in

performance on tasks that were not part of the training. For a more detailed outline of

the scientific background refer to Jaeggi, Buschkuehl, Jonides, and Perrig (2008) or

Buschkuehl (2007) and Jaeggi (2005) - these references are listed in Chapter 6.

The trainings that are included in BrainTwister are suitable for different target

groups of people and differ in their demands and complexity. The shared feature of

all tasks is their adaptivity, that is, the task automatically increases in difficulty when

the participant gets better at it, and also gets easier, when the performance drops

again. Please refer to our recommendations concerning training time and target

groups for the various training times in Chapter 4.7.

Once a training is running, it can always be quit by simultaneously pressing

the keys „SHIFT + CTRL + ALT + 9”. After pressing this key combination, the follow-

ing window appears:

You can now quit the training by pressing the “ESC” key. By pressing the

space bar, a new run will be started and the training continues.

BrainTwister Training Tasks -> Senso

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4.1 Senso (sequence learning)

This task is the least complex of all tasks included in BrainTwister. This task is

especially suitable in order to explain the handling of the computer mouse to partici-

pants that have less experience with computers. On the drop down list you can select

three different versions of this task. These versions are the variants “coloured

squares”, “blue squares”, and “flowers”. These variants only differ in their graphical

content; the type of the task is always the same.

After having selected this task and one of its variants, you can click on “start”

and the following start screen will show up1:

After a mouseclick, the task will start with four coloured squares appearing in a

row on the middle of the screen. These squares will disappear and reappear in ran-

dom order. The task for the user is now to memorize this sequence. An example of a

possible sequence is shown as follows:

At the end of a shown sequence (the length of the sequence in the first run

represents the chosen value under ’’Initial level of difficulty” in the main window), the

following screen will appear and the user is required to reproduce the sequence by

clicking on the appropriate squares with the computer mouse:

1 The task will be further explained by using only the variant “coloured squares“.

1 2 3 4

BrainTwister Training Tasks -> Senso

13

If the sequence was reproduced correctly, it is followed by the message de-

picted on the left; otherwise, the message depicted on the right shows up:

The next sequence will start after having clicked one of the mouse buttons.

The following sequence length will increase by one if the previous sequence was re-

produced correctly, otherwise, the sequence length will decrease by one2. The train-

ing ends if either the amount of training minutes is over (the training always ends af-

ter a reproduction of a shown sequence, thus, the training can marginally exceed the

value defined in the main window), or if the amount of trials (i.e. the amount of shown

sequences) is reached. At the end, one of the messages shown above appears (de-

pending whether the responses were correct or not) with the additional message that

the training is now finished. After a click on one of the mouse buttons, you will return

to the main window.

2 The shortest sequence length is one.

BrainTwister Training tasks -> Visuo-spatial training

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4.2 Visuo-spatial training

This training task is closely related to the Senso training as described in Chap-

ter 4.1. The major difference is that a sequence can consist of 16 instead of only 4

positions. The task is slightly more complex than the Senso task, but has the same

underlying principle. After having started the task, the following screen appears:

After clicking on one of the mouse buttons, the task starts: A 4x4 grid will be

shown in which a blue dot will appear in several consecutive positions of this grid.

After the presentation of this sequence, the task is to reproduce the shown sequence

in the correct order. A possible sequence is shown as follows:

At the end of a shown sequence (the length of the sequence in the first run is

determined by the difficulty level chosen in the main window), the following screen

shows up and the user is required to reproduce the sequence by clicking on the ap-

propriate positions with the computer mouse:

1 2 3 4

BrainTwister Training tasks -> Visuo-spatial training

15

If the sequence was reproduced correctly, it is followed by the message de-

picted on the left; otherwise, the message depicted on the right shows up:

The next sequence will start after having clicked on one of the mouse buttons.

The following sequence length will increase by one if the previous sequence was re-

produced correctly, otherwise, the sequence length will decrease by one3. The train-

ing ends if either the amount of training minutes is over (the training always ends af-

ter a reproduction of a shown sequence, thus, the training can marginally exceed the

value defined in the main window), or if the amount of trials (i.e. the amount of shown

sequences) is reached. At the end, one of the messages shown above appears (de-

pending whether the responses were correct or not) with the additional message that

the training is now finished. After a click on one of the mouse buttons, you will return

to the main window.


BrainTwister Training tasks -> Cat and dog span

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4.3 Cat and dog span

In contrast to the Senso and the Visuo-spatial training described in Chapters

4.1 and 4.2, this task is now slightly more complex. This increase in complexity is

mainly because there is also a processing component in addition to the requirement

to store information. After clicking on “start”, the following screen shows up and the

training can be started by clicking on one of the mouse buttons.

First, pictures of either a cat or a dog are presented (always the same pic-

tures). The first task is to decide whether the picture is presented correctly or upside

down. The picture on the computer screen (in the case of a cat) will then look like

this:

Now, the left mouse button has to be clicked if the picture is presented upside

down. If the picture is presented correctly (as in the case shown above), the right

mouse button has to be clicked.4 It is important to decide and click the mouse button

4 Mac-Users with a single-button mouse may simulate the right mouse button using CTRL-Key and the

mouse button together (works with BrainTwister version 1.1 or higher). We recommend using a two button mouse.


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as fast and as accurately as possible. The time which is available for the decision

can be varied in the menu bar. If “preferences” is selected in the menu bar, different

delay limits (slow: 4s; normal: 3s; fast: 2s) can be selected. If the wrong button is

pressed, or if it takes too long to give the answer, the following message will show up

at the top of the screen:

An additional component of the task is to memorize the sequence in which the

cats and dogs are presented. After having made the decision about whether the pic-

ture was shown correctly or upside down, the following screen will be shown (at the

same time, the mouse cursor will also appear):

Now the user is required to reproduce the order in which the cats and dogs

were presented. In order to do this, the user has to put the mouse cursor either on

the cat or the dog and confirm this by clicking the mouse button. As soon as this click

has been made, a smaller dog or cat will appear on the lower part of the screen look-

ing like this:


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Once a selection has been made, it can not be corrected. If the user has

committed an error, the trial should be finished nonetheless and a new trial can be

started afterwards. There are as many cats and dogs to select as there were pictures

presented earlier to decide on their orientation. If for example there were two animals

to decide on, there are only two possibilities to select a cat or a dog for the order

task. After having done this selection twice, the program automatically terminates the

trial and shows whether the response was correct (left) or not (right):

With a mouse click, the next trial can be started. If there was no mistake in

both parts of the tasks (i.e. if (1) the decision about whether the animal was present-

ed correctly or upside down was accurate and made quickly enough, and if (2) the

sequence was correctly reproduced), the next sequence length will increase by one

animal. If there was a mistake in reproducing the order, the next sequence length will

be decreased by one animal5. If there was a mistake in the decision whether the an-

imal was presented correctly or upside down (by either pressing the wrong mouse

button or taking longer than 3 seconds to respond so that the red message is pre-

sented), but the sequence is correctly reproduced afterwards, the next sequence will



19

be as long as in the trial before. The training ends if either the amount of training

minutes is over (the training always ends after a reproduction of a shown sequence,

thus, the training can marginally exceed the value defined in the main window), or if

the amount of trials (i.e. the amount of shown sequences) is reached. At the end, one

of the messages shown above appears (depending whether the responses were cor-

rect or not) with the additional message that the training is now finished. After a click

on one of the mouse buttons, you will return to the main window.

BrainTwister Training tasks -> Animal span

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4.4 Animal span

This task is similar to the cat and dog span as described in Chapter 4.3 with

the exception that instead of only 2 animals, there are now 8 animals, which makes

the task more complex. After clicking on “start”, the following screen shows up and

the training can be started by clicking on one of the mouse buttons:

For the procedure of the training, please refer to Chapter 4.3 because the

tasks are principally similar. In contrast to the cat and dog task, for the order recollec-

tion task, the following selection of animals will be shown to choose from:

Everything else is identical to the cat and dog task (Chapter 4.3).

BrainTwister Training tasks -> Safari and Farm training

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4.5 Safari Training and Farm Training

In the following section, we will present two training tasks that are identical,

except for their graphical material6. These two tasks are variants of the cat and dog

span and animal span (Chapter 4.3 and 4.4), with the exception that there are 4 ani-

mals instead of 2 or 8, respectively. Please refer to Chapter 4.3 for the outline of the

task. The animals presented in this training are the following (left: Safari training;

right: Farm training):

These tasks were developed especially for children. The graphical elements

were designed accordingly and at the end of each trial, there is an extended feed-

back. After clicking on “start”, one of the following screens will show up (left: safari

training; right: farm training):

In the following instructions, only the screenshots of the farm training will be

shown, since the task is otherwise identical in the safari training (with the exception

of the graphical design). Both tasks can be explained to participants by using a story

outline (refer also to Chapter 4.5.1). Also, in both tasks, the goal is to win apples.

6 Also refer to Roissson, B., & Pourtois, G. (2004). Revisiting Snodgrass and Vanderwart's object set:

The role of surface detail in basic-level object recognition. Perception, 33, 217-236.


22

One can win apples by correctly reproducing the shown sequence of animals, irre-

spective of whether there was a mistake in the first part of the task (deciding whether

the animal was shown correctly or upside down). If there was a mistake in the first

part of the task, worms will show up at the top of the screen (in the safari training,

instead of worms, there are monkeys):

There are two ways to make mistakes: either by using the wrong mouse but-

ton or by taking too to decide whether the animal was shown upside down or not.

The time which is available for the decision can be varied in the menu bar. If “prefer-

ences” is selected in the menu bar, different delay limits (slow: 4s; normal: 3s; fast:

2s) can be selected.

After having correctly reproduced a sequence, the user wins an apple which

will be indicated by the following feedback screen:

The apples represent points that are collected in the basket located on the

right side of the screen. On the left, there is an additional highscore bar: If there was

no mistake in the first part of the task (i.e. no wrong mouse click and responded fast


23

enough) and the order in which the animals were presented was reproduced correct-

ly, the sequence length (i.e. the amount of remembered animals) will show up on this

bar. The highscore always shows the maximal amount of animals that were remem-

bered correctly; that is, the bar can only go up and may not change after each trial.

The next trial can be started by clicking on one of the mouse buttons.

4.5.1 Farm training: Specific instructions for children

In the following, we provide you with an example on how to explain the training

to a child. It works by “constructing” a little story in order to explain the task.

Farmer Appleseed needs your help to collect all his apples that he shook from his trees into his basket. You can help him by winning as many apples as you can with this game. The task goes like this: In this task, there are two parts, which are equally important:

The first part:

You will see several animals and you have to decide for each of them, whether it is shown correctly or upside down. You can give your answer by clicking on the appropriate mouse button:

correct hit the right mouse button (green)


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upside down hit the left mouse button (red)

[It might be helpful if there are stickers on the mouse button – a red sticker on the left

button, and a green sticker on the right button.]

As soon as you have made your decision by clicking on one of the mouse buttons, you will see the next picture. If you take too long to decide, some worms will show up. These worms might eat the apples – of course, apples with worms can not be sold and therefore, you cannot put them into the basket.

Try to be faster when deciding with the next set of animals in order to collect many apples for Farmer Appleseed.

Important: The same worms will also show up if you hit the wrong mouse button. Try therefore to respond correctly.

(Reminder: upside down left button; correct right mouse button).


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The second part:

At the same time as you decide upon the orientation of the animals, try to memorize their order in which they appeared (in the example, the first animal was the dog, the second was the pig)

You don’t have to remember whether the animal was shown correctly or upside down; for this part of the task, just the order is important. As soon as you see the following screen, you have to click (with the mouse) on the previous-ly shown animals in the order as they were shown:

With the mouse (left button), click on the first animal that appeared (in this example, it

was the dog). It will automatically appear below the white line as shown below:


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Then, click on the second animal that was shown (in this example, it was the pig). It will then automatically appear next to the small dog below the white line in second position:

As soon as you have clicked on as many animals as there were in this series, you will be notified with the message shown in the picture above. You will also win an apple for your basket if you remembered the order correctly (see below). Also, you will see a highscore, that is, the amount of animals that you could remember correctly:

If you made a mistake in remembering the order, a worm will get the apple. Of course, you cannot give such an apple to Farmer Appleseed. Try, therefore, to remember the next order correctly.


27

By clicking one of the mouse buttons, the next trial will start.

Now, the training will adjust to your performance: if you decided correctly whether the animal was shown upside down or correctly, and in addition, if you remembered the order correctly, you will advance one level and see one more animal in the next trial. If you made a little mistake deciding whether the animal was shown upside down or correctly (or if you were too slow), the amount of animals will stay the same in the next trial. If the new trial was too difficult, that is, if you couldn’t quite remember the order of the animals, the task will get easier again. In order to win as many apples for Farmer Appleseed, try:

To answer correctly as to whether the animal was presented correctly or upside down

Not to wait too long until you click the mouse button

To remember the order of as many animals as possible

BrainTwister Training tasks -> N-back Training

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4.6 N-back Training

This training is the most complex training that is included in BrainTwister. The

N-back training is available in 3 variants and is especially challenging in the dual task

version.

In this N-back task, there are spoken letters that you will hear one after anoth-

er and/or squares at different positions that appear sequentially on the computer

screen. The task is to respond whenever the actually presented letter is the same as

the one that appeared N positions back in the sequence. The following figure will

demonstrate this principle:


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The higher the value of N, the more difficult is the N-back task. In the upper

part of the figure, there is a 1-back task which is the easiest level. In this task, a re-

sponse is required whenever the currently presented letter or square is the same (i.e.

at the same position) as the one that was presented just before. In the lower part of

the figure, there is a 2-back task: in this task, a response is required if the actual pre-

sented letter or square is the same (i.e. at the same position) as the one that was

presented 2 back in the sequence.

In order to respond to the letter task, you have to hit key “L” on the keyboard.

For the visuospatial square task, you have to hit key “A”.

One run always consists of 20 + N trials. A trial consists of the presentation of

a letter and/or a square. Thus, in a 2-back task, you will be presented with 22 trials.

Therefore, the length of a run is dependent on the level of N, but still lasts approxi-

mately one minute.

In the following, the 3 variants of the N-back task which can be selected from

the drop down list will be described.


30

4.6.1 Visuo-spatial N-back training

After hitting the “start” button in the main window, the following screen will

show up:

By pressing the space bar, the task will start. The first N-back level of the task

represents the initial level of difficulty that was defined in the main window7. The fol-

lowing screen will show the N-back level that has to be done in the next run (see also

Chapter 4.6):

Thus, for this example, the next run will consist of a 2-back task. That means,

whenever the currently presented square is in the same position as the one present-

ed 2 back in the sequence, the user has to press key “A”. In a 3-back task, the user

would have to press key “A” whenever the square would be in the same position as 3

back in the sequence. There are 8 different positions in which the squares can ap-

pear. By hitting the space bar again, the run will start. At the end of the run, the user

will receive a feedback concerning the performance of this particular run:

7 The smallest level is a 1-back.


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Is the performance higher than 90%, the value of N will be increased by one in

the next run. If the performance is 70%8 or lower, the value of N will be decreased by

one. Otherwise, the N-back level remains the same. By hitting the space bar, the

next run will start.

The training ends if either the amount of training minutes is over (the training

always ends after a run, thus, the training can marginally exceed the value defined in

the main window), or if the amount of runs is reached. By hitting the space bar, you

will return to the main window.

8 The values shown in the feedback screen always address the amount of detected targets. Neverthe-

less, if you don’t press any key at all during a run, your percentage correct will still be 70% (because there were also trials in which you did not respond and that was correct!). However, in this case, the next level of N will be decreased by one.


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4.6.2 Auditory N-back training

After hitting the “start” button in the main window, the following screen will

show up:




Chapter 4.6):


whenever the currently presented letter is the same as the one presented 2 back in

the sequence, the user has to press key “L”. In a 3-back task, the user would have to

press key “L”, whenever the letter would be the same as the one presented 3 back in

the sequence. There are always the same 8 letters: C, D, G, K, P, Q, T, V. By press-

ing the space bar again, the run will start (please make sure that you have turned on

9 The smallest level is a 1-back.


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your speakers). At the end of the run, the user will receive a feedback concerning the

performance of this particular run:

If the performance is higher than 90%, the value of N will be increased by one

in the next run. If the performance is 70%10 or lower, the value of N will be decreased

by one. Otherwise, the N-back level remains the same. Hitting the space bar will start

the next run. To start the next run, hit the space bar.





10

The values shown in the feedback screen always address the amount of detected targets. Never-theless, if you don’t press any key at all during a run, your percentage correct will still be 70% (be-cause there were also trials in which you did not respond and that was correct!). However, in this case, the next level of N will be decreased by one.


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4.6.3 Dual N-back training

In the dual n-back task, the auditory and visuospatial N-back tasks are com-

bined. That is, the letters and the squares will be presented at the same time (please

make sure that you have turned on your speakers). However, the value of N will be

the same for both modality streams. After hitting the “start” button in the main win-

dow, the following screen will show up:




Chapter 4.6):


whenever the currently presented letter is the same as the one presented 2 back in

the sequence, the user has to press key “L”. Whenever the currently presented

square is in the same position as the one presented 2 back in the sequence, you

11

The smallest level is a 1-back.


35

must simultaneously press key “A” as well. That is, the user might have to press just

key “A”, or just key “L”, or both together, or none at all. In a 3-back task, the user

would have to press key “L” whenever the currently presented letter is the same as

the one presented 3 back, and key “A” whenever the currently presented square is at

the same position as the one presented 3 back. They are always the same letters (C,

D, G, K, P, Q, T, V) in the same 8 positions. By pressing the space bar again, the run

will start. At the end of the run, the user will receive a feedback concerning the per-

formance of this particular run:

If the performance is higher than 90% in both modalities, the value of N will be

increased by one in the next run. If the performance is 70%12 or lower in either one of

the two modalities, the value of N will be decreased by one. Otherwise, the N-back

level remains the same. By hitting the space bar, the next run will start.





12

The values shown in the feedback screen always address the amount of detected targets. Never-theless, if you don’t press any key at all during a run, your percentage correct will still be 70% (be-cause there were also trials in which you did not respond and that was correct!). However, in this case, the next level of N will be decreased by one.

BrainTwister Training recommendations

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4.7 Training recommendations

In the following, we give recommendations for target groups and training dura-

tions of the training tasks that are integrated in BrainTwister. With target groups we

refer to a group of persons for whom we think the corresponding training task is es-

pecially suited because of the characteristics of the training task. With training dura-

tion we indicate how long a reasonable training session might be.

In principle, the training should be conducted in a way that allows for optimal

focus on the training task for the full length of the training duration. Furthermore,

make sure to be able to train undisturbed. The training should not last too long, but

try to fully concentrate as long as the training lasts. Therefore, it can be beneficial to

divide a chosen daily training time into several smaller training units, i.e. to train sev-

eral times daily for a shorter period of time. It is especially important not to take on

more than you can handle!

In the following table we indicate the optimal training duration for different tar-

get groups. The optimal target group for a certain training task is underlined.

Task Target group Recommended training duration

Senso

Persons that are not used to

use a computer mouse

Children up to 7 years old

Preferrably a shorter training time:

Maximally 6 minutes per day;

Up to 2 times a day

Visuo-spatial

from 7 – 13 years 2 times 6 minutes per day


from 19 – 65 years 20 minutes per day

66 years and up 2 times 8 minutes per day

Cat and dog span





Animal span





Safari/Farm training from 8 – 12 years 2 times 6 minutes per day or

2 times 8 minutes per day

N-back single from 18 – 50 years 20 minutes per day


N-back dual from 18 – 50 years 20 minutes per day

Important note: You cannot expect to see performance increases in tasks

other than the trained tasks if you only train for a short period of time. Our research

shows that at least a training period of 3 weeks is necessary (please also refer to

Jaeggi, Buschkuehl, Jonides & Perrig, 2008).

BrainTwister Training performance

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5. Training performance

In both the simple and the extended main window, it is possible to check the

training performance of the currently loaded user by clicking on the button “Statis-

tics”. Here is an example of a training curve for the Farm training:

The depicted data refer to the number of animals (order) that were remem-

bered correctly on a certain day. The blue line represents the maximum number of

correctly remembered animals. The green line represents the average amount of cor-

rectly remembered animals per day. If there was more than one training per day, one

can look at every single training session by clicking on the button “Farm training” at

the bottom of the screen:


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By clicking on the button “Print”, you can print out the training curves. For each

trained task, BrainTwister automatically adds two buttons on the bottom of the statis-

tics window. One button to show the results of every training session, and the other

button for the results aggregated over a whole day. Here is an example where a per-

son trained with the Farm training and the Senso training task:


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The different training curves can be selected by clicking on the appropriate

button. The statistics window can be closed by clicking on the button “Close” which

makes the main window reappear.

The following table indicates which values are reported by the training curves

for each task:

Task Indicated value

Senso Amount of correctly recalled squares

Visual-spatial Amount of correctly recalled locations

Cat and dog span,

Animal span, Safari

and Farm training

Amount of correctly recalled animals

N-back N-back level

BrainTwister Efficacy of BrainTwister

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6. Scientific proof of efficacy

The training tasks implemented in BrainTwister are based upon ongoing re-

search of the Division of Experimental Psychology and Neuropsychology at the Uni-

versity of Bern, Switzerland. Please refer to the following website for an up-to-date

overview of the efficacy studies of the integrated training tasks:

www.braintwister.unibe.ch

BrainTwister Efficacy of BrainTwister

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7. Acknowledgements

Thank you all for making BrainTwister possible:

Courtney Behnke, Daniela Blaser, Nina Brauchle, Hanspeter Bürki, Henrik

Danielsson, Simone Duss, Horst Egger, Nina Hofer, Marco Hollenstein, Sara

Hutchison, Sandra Loosli, Andreas Matter, Klazien Matter, Stephan Oelhafen,

Yvonne Omlin, Sandra Passani, Myriam Pfammatter, Franziska Schachtler, Kirti

Thummala, Simon Weber, Rhea Winkelmann, Halle Zucker, Julia Meier, and all our

participants for your effort and your feedback – it is because of you that BrainTwister

exists after all!

Manual Version E1.1.0

BrainTwister A collection of Cognitive Training Tasks

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