Repository size: ~110 MB.
- N-Image-Back: using short-term memory and working memory to classify images in N-Back mode.
- Recursive-Solving: using short-term memory and working memory to resolve partially recursive logic relations.
- Puzzle-Solving: using short-term memory and working memory to resolve complex relations.
Notes:
- There are no instructions, but there are
hint/answerbuttons. - Auto mode is initially enabled. This means that nothing needs to be changed at the very beginning.
- The longer a person trains, the longer the effects last. If a person skips a week of intellectual activity, there will be a decline.
- It is better to perform exercises in the evening and only when not tired. If exercises are done earlier, the brain may tire more quickly and the person will feel tired for the entire day.
Simplified model:
- Sensory organs such as the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin receive signals from the external world and transmit them to the brain through the nervous system. In the brain, these signals are converted into impulses for complex neural networks.
- The complex neural network is based on neurons and connections between them, which can be strengthened or weakened depending on frequency of use. On average, there are more than 86 billion neurons in the human brain, and the number of connections is even greater.
- Impulses are transmitted from neuron to other neurons through specific connections between them, which have varying sensitivity to the impulses (including excitatory or inhibitory). Activation of a neuron by external stimuli is called evoked activity.
- Neurons can generate their own impulses, called spontaneous activities. These activities occur in the absence of external stimulation of the neuron.
- One neuron or a small group of neurons with connections do not store complete information, but the collective neural activations, connections, and processes between a large number of distributed neurons from different areas of the brain form a complete representation of information.
- Information stored in the brain is distributed in different areas of the brain. It may be duplicated, be part of different representations and abstractions formed by the brain. Thanks to this distribution, information and its fragments can be partially restored even if access to some parts of it is lost; this process of restoration is called reconsolidation, and it is capable of altering memories.
- During wakefulness, there is an increase in the level of activity of neurons and connections between them. Prolonged high activity can lead to fatigue and reduced brain efficiency. In such cases, sleep is necessary, during which the level of activity is restored, and other useful processes occur.
- Neurogenesis is the process of formation of new neurons. Synaptogenesis is the process of formation of new connections between neurons. Neurons and connections between them are created in the early years of a person. In the future, their creation is possible, but to a much lesser extent. Physical activity, diet, social activity, and sleep can stimulate neurogenesis and synaptogenesis.
- Neuroplasticity is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. It is when the brain is rewired to function in some way that differs from how it previously functioned.
- The brain's ability to adapt toward active functions allows humans to specialize in specific processes based on relative use and activity. For example, a right-handed person may perform any movement poorly with the left hand, but continuous practice with the non-dominant hand can cause one to become ambidextrous.
- Short-term memory is characterized by increased activity of certain neurons and connections for several seconds, which has a minimal effect on the change of the neural network. The hippocampus is a brain region that is important for short-term memory and has also been implicated in emotion processing, spatial memory, memory consolidation (conversion of short-term memory into long-term memory).
- Long-term memory is characterized by significant changes in the structure of the neural network (formation of new connections, strengthening of existing connections). Partial consolidation of memory occurs with sufficiently strong and prolonged excitation of neurons, for example, in cases of the emergence of emotions, repetition of information, physical exercise, and other forms of brain stimulation. More complete consolidation occurs during sleep (8 hours for full consolidation).
- Recall is the process of retrieving information from the brain that is based on the activation of relevant neural networks. Recalling can be facilitated if the memorable information was linked to other information through multiple associations, including shared properties (such as shape, color, etc.), associated with a specific context (a person may remember something while being in roughly the same conditions as in the past), or had emotional significance.
- Working memory is a complex mechanism necessary for processing information over a short period of time (usually a few seconds). Working memory is characterized by the sequential activation of many neurons in order to obtain any information. This can mean searching for and retrieving the necessary information from long-term memory, constructing a step-by-step solution for some task, etc.
Plausible hypotheses:
- When we experience strong emotions, our brain remembers not only the event itself but also the associated details that would typically be forgotten. This memory occurs because the brain regions responsible for emotions send strong and prolonged impulses, exciting neurons and initiating long-term memory processes. Based on: Joseph E. Dunsmoor, Vishnu P. Murty, Lila Davachi & Elizabeth A. Phelps. Emotional learning selectively and retroactively strengthens memories for related events // Nature. Published online 21 January 2015.
- The synaptic tagging hypothesis suggests that during increased activity of specific neuronal connections (i.e., during short-term memory), synaptic tags are formed in these connections, which are stored for no more than 2-3 hours. These tags determine which connections were previously highly active and should be retained during long-term memory processes. Based on: Frey, U., Morris, R. Synaptic tagging and long-term potentiation. Nature 385, 533–536 (1997).
- The capacity of working memory is not limited by the number of elements that need to be memorized, but by the number of connections that can be formed between these elements. The more elements a person can link together in working memory, the higher their working memory capacity. Based on: Oberauer K. Working Memory Capacity Limits Memory for Bindings. J Cogn. 2019 Sep 19;2(1):40. doi: 10.5334/joc.86. PMID: 31576379; PMCID: PMC6753309.
Practical statements:
- Any brain training involves activating neurons. Activated neurons are associated with the types of tasks that the brain solves. However, this may not have a big impact on solving other types of tasks. Therefore, a person should not limit themselves to a narrow range of tasks for brain training.
- Cognitive flexibility and correct knowledge are important. Without cognitive flexibility, a person's ability to learn new information and adapt to changing circumstances is limited. Without correct knowledge, a person's understanding of the world may be distorted or incomplete, leading to ignorance and potentially harmful beliefs or actions. A person can be good in the first and bad in the second, and vice versa; however, one should not evaluate a person's intelligence by only one of them.
- Retrieval of information is a more effective memory strategy than simple repetition by reading. If the goal is to remember certain information, it is necessary to retrieve it more frequently.
- To remember a large amount of information, it is recommended to break it down into several parts and distribute time between them in such a way that every 3 hours are devoted to the most closely related topics (the less diversity in information, the better the distribution of resources for long-term memory processes). It is also important to ensure that the topics studied between these periods are also closely related. Breaks for rest should be taken every hour, and a long break should be taken every 3 hours. The best option for a long break is sleep (even 1 hour of sleep is beneficial). However, it is also important not to forget about circadian rhythms.
- It is recommended to sleep for at least 8 hours at night to ensure complete memory consolidation.
- The brain adapts to everyday tasks. A person should choose a field of activity and develop in it. This is the most profitable option for self-development; narrow-focused exercises may not have a significant effect on a person's main activity.
A person can recall the sound of birds chirping, the taste of freshly picked berries, or the scent of blooming flowers, even years after the initial experience. Imagining delicious food, pleasant smells, interesting melodies, and virtual reality in general can be beneficial for the brain, because the corresponding connections become more active and sensitive to new experiences.
"Streaming" exercise — imagine a virtual world, simulating the work of all senses (including visualization - if you don't visualize, you lose your potential).
In addition, a person should include active speaking in this process.
The basic version of the exercise is imagining the sequence of events in a day.
Also this exercise can be used to think about any tasks and solutions to them.
And you can ask yourself questions and answer them in detail.
You can identify your problems based on your answers to your own questions.
Streaming is a powerful technique that should become fundamental in self-development.
Related topics:
- Valid environment.
- Many repetitions.
- Timely feedback.
- Many hours of purposeful practice.
Category: good.
See https://gwern.net/spaced-repetition:
- Don't use spaced repetition if you need it sooner than 5 days or it's worth less than 5 minutes.
- For massed repetition (not spaced repetition), the average time after memorization at which one has a 50% chance of remembering the memorized item seems to be 3-5 days.
- Expanding spacing is roughly as good as or better than (wide) fixed intervals, but expanding is more convenient.
- The research favors questions which force the users to use their memory as much as possible; in descending order of preference: free recall, short answers, multiple-choice, cloze deletion, recognition.
Miller's law is incorrect because it does not take into account the time and the connections between elements (because this depends on how well a person can connect certain data elements in the brain). Rehearsal takes time, but searching for connections in data can speed up the process (that's why some people use mnemonics).
Raven's Matrices are tasks used to evaluate a person's ability to find and apply relations by analogy.
Let's say we have a Raven matrix.
Attributes:
a1 : rectangle; a2 : triangle; a3 : circle;
b1 : horizontal; b2 : vertical; b3 : diagonal.
Pattern:
a1b2 a2b1 a3b2
a2b1 a3b2 a2b3
a3b2 a2b3 ?
Answer: a1b2.
The first two lines define the rule.
Human task: find and apply relations by analogy.
Although the idea of Raven matrices is good, the kinds of connections between matrix elements are memorizable.
And this means that intelligence cannot be accurately assessed according to the Raven matrices if a person has trained on them.
We should differentiate between thoughts "for the brain" and "for the body".
The brain often tries to get happiness hormones for itself, but thinks about the body infrequently. A person may eat tasty but unhealthy food.
Take care of your body!
Website with a lot of interesting information: https://supermemo.guru/wiki/SuperMemo_Guru
Games:
- Thinking: Patrick's Parabox, Understand, Baba Is You, Recursed, Stephen's Sausage Roll, Magrunner: Dark Pulse, The Talos Principle, Antichamber, Railbound, Re:Touring, Human Resource Machine, 7 Billion Humans, Turing Complete, Memory Land Extreme, Infinifactory, NandGame.
- Reaction: Super Hexagon, Open Hexagon, ZigZag, Twin Edge.
- 3D: .projekt, Security Hole, Portal, Portal 2, Portal 2: Reloaded.
Search:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/puzzles/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/puzzlevideogames/
- https://www.youtube.com/@aliensrock/playlists
- https://www.reddit.com/r/cognitiveTesting/
Human Benchmark (only for testing):
https://humanbenchmark.com/
Testing is necessary in order to detect the transfer effect.
Since a person becomes better at what they do, they should not train on tests if they want to detect the transfer effect.
You should not fixate on the integer variable measure of IQ.
Engage in your favorite activity.
Look at many judgments about intelligence from a critical point of view.
You should develop intellectually and physically throughout your life.
It should be a pleasant pastime.
