Dual N-Back trains your working memory by making you track two things at once: where a square lights up on a grid, and which letter you hear.
Every 3 seconds, a square on the 3×3 grid flashes and a letter plays. Your job? Remember if either one matches what happened N turns back.
In 2-Back, you're comparing with 2 turns ago. In 3-Back, 3 turns ago. Simple concept, but it gets tricky fast.
When the position matches, hit the Position button (A key). When the letter matches, hit Audio (L key). Both match? Hit both. Nothing matches? Just wait.
The first N turns are just warm-up — no scoring, just watch and listen to build up your memory.
Scoring rewards accuracy. Correct catches, missed matches, and false alarms all count. Mashing buttons won't help your score.
Auto mode adjusts difficulty for you: 80%+ moves you up, falling below 50% three times drops you down. Manual mode lets you pick your own N level and trial count.
One tip: don't overthink it. Get into the rhythm and let your instincts sharpen over time.
Dual N-Back is a cognitive training task where you simultaneously track two streams of stimuli — visual positions on a grid and auditory letters — and identify when either matches what appeared N turns ago.
The 'Dual' refers to tracking two independent modalities at the same time: spatial position and auditory letter. The standard single N-Back uses only one modality.
N is how many turns back you need to compare. In 2-Back you compare with 2 turns ago, in 3-Back with 3 turns ago. Higher N means more items to hold in memory, making the task harder.
Most studies use sessions of around 15 to 25 minutes. Consistency matters more than session length — short daily sessions are generally more effective than occasional long ones.
Your score is based on the ratio of correct responses to the total of correct responses, missed matches, and false alarms. Both failing to press when there is a match and pressing when there is no match lower your score.