Anyone notice any difference in their school or work performance after 20 days training?

[Confuzedd]

I am not enrolled in school right now, so I was just wondering if
there are anyone here who noticed some kind of improvement in their
school or work performance?

[AshDog]

There are a number of us here that have reported improvement in our
schooling and work. I certainly have.

[Brian]

I've noticed improved performance in bed :-D My girlfriend couldn't
be happier.

On a more serious note, I take salsa lessons. Recently, the learning
and sequencing of moves has become much easier. I can't really tell
if the n-back stuff is really helping in this area though.

On Jan 2, 11:53 pm, Confuzedd <kahr...@hotmail.com> wrote:

[Ashirgo]

I believe I have noticed some differences.

I am more focused on what teachers are saying. Now it is easier to
remember quickly large sequences of figures (telephone numbers, for
instance). Writing things from the blackboard now goes easier, for I
can immediately catch large bits of information and write them down in
my notebook.

A very important thing is that I actually learn new things faster.
Last time it took me only two hours to learn the entire material
necessary for my driving licence exam (and it is lots of things to
remember, at least in my country).

When I am to be immediately focused upon sth, it is effortless to do
so.

Humbly,

Ash

[karnautrahl]

When I started in October I had stopped any form of real study on
anything for quite some months-I'd pretty much given up on it all
apart from a couple of weeks where I tried to learn a little hacking
and technical stuff for work. I lost patience at that time.

Now in the past I'd had 1 - 2 week "enthusiasms" for various things
that hadn't lasted long enough to go anywhere. Due to this since April
this year I'd just gave up. Up till April I'd been drinking vodka and
beer together fairly regularly to get drunk. I quit the vodka and
reduced the beer somewhat in April and began to train (I'd taken zero
exercise for months and months!).

I find out about dual n back in October and begin to use it daily. I
used it for over a month just about everyday. In the first week there
was a marked difference that I couldn't measure - so we'll chalk that
to placebo. However I was reading Cryptonicon at the time, and could
feel myself starting to get some interest back in maths. Now this
isn't my strong area at all, yet during October I began to acquire
books who's premise was to bring maths to life and/or explain math
thinking to non mathamaticians. To bridge the gap so to speak. Just at
that point I read the Brain that Changes itself by Doidge and realise
that whatever I thought of my past (I'm 31 and have got NOWHERE in
life, professionally/career or academic wise AT ALL), this didn't mean
my past was my future.

Thanks' to Norman's book I've begun teaching myself neuroscience, as
I've mentioned elsewhere. Of course I'm coming from the position of a
layman who's last science study was at 16 (GCSE level) with a
reasonable grade at that age but no more. Yet the other day, I used
Chemistry for the Biosciences for an hour in the morning, in order to
coach a young lady who's chemistry was poor that afternoon. She and I
spent 3 and half hours covering most of her weak spots...and I was
able to learn it and figure it out on the fly with her. A terms' worth
of skipped lessons got condensed into this time to a degree and we
both now understand valancy, orbitals, equilibrium reactions and molar
mass :). This is a drop in the ocean to you chemistry graduates
(Paul), but imagine a bricklayer or common laborer doing it....this
was where I felt I'd been to a degree because I'd not followed a
proper course of study since school.

The fact is I'm studying stuff now, and it's sticking. Rote learned
material is as hard as ever of course. Principles are staying, as are
many structures and concepts. My ability to concentrate on stuff that
I find difficult to comprehend has gone way up, with the result that
understanding does come far faster, because I can get my mind to stay
on it till I finish.

There are LOTS of gaps to fill before I'm ready to go onto a degree,
but thanks to Paul's program and Norman Doige's book, I truly believe
it is possible now.

:P. There that's my story.

> > school or work performance?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[esel]

Karnautrahl, those books on math sound interesting. I've looked into
that sort of thing before but from the reviews it never seemed like
they'd be of much help to me, would you mind sharing some of their
titles?

I'm sorry I don't have anything to contribute to this topic. I read
about dual n-back a few months ago but never managed to stick with it
for more than a couple of days at a time. Yesterday I began keeping a
log of how many sessions I do per day in hope that I'll do it
consistently from now on.

[Aditya Prasad]

Beautiful story!

> Rote learned material is as hard as ever of course.

This is very likely to have been discussed previously on this list,
but just in case anyone's not already familiar:

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-05/ff_wozniak?currentPage=all

These are two free and quite similar to SuperMemo:

http://ichi2.net/anki/
http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/

-A

[polar]

For me, there are clear improvements - I find it "easier" to focus,
think, and memorize. For example, with my father I seldom won at
scrabble or chess. Now, after cca 2 months of dual-n back training
(fyi n=4...), I win like half games in scrabble, and am often
stalemating in chess! My non-intentional memory clearly improved too,
I'm now more able to recall conversations or texts which I didnt try
to remember. And <i>very</i> subjectively, I'm more creative - but
otherwise still postponing things, still forget sometimes, and still
often "refreshing webpages" for hours :))

[jfej004]

The question posed was: Have you noticed an increase in mental
performance?

My answer to that question is unequivocally YES! I have only been
doing it for a few days now, but I have already noticed significant
results. I have a lot better "memory" in terms in conversational
activities. I can concentrate more easily (and naturally), and my
thoughts and ideas flow so much smoother! My mental abilities really
have increased, and I look forward to experiencing more mental
advancement in the future (even if i don't experience any more
increase in mental performance, the increase I have already gained has
made this exercise already well worth the time and effort!).

On the first day I tried the whole sequence, my brain was so fatigued
that I HAD to take a nap :)! I really feel my brain receive a mental
workout, and it is a great feeling!

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK EVERYONE, AND HAPPY DUAL N BACKING!

On Jan 2, 11:53 pm, Confuzedd <kahr...@hotmail.com> wrote:

[Az]

Wow, that's pretty inspirational stuff... well done you