I downloaded Brain Workshop and was trying it.
Are people here doing the N-Back game regularly?
Do you think that people use techniques to solve it?
Apparently, one is not supposed to use techniques when doing the game, but it would be tempting to try. 
I’ve been thinking of ways to solve it with mnemonic images, and will test the method a bit more tomorrow.
Interesting.
Took me a bit of research to find out what the Dual-N-Back game actually was.
It’s a game where each turn you are presented with a position (a cell on a 3x3 grid) and a letter (there seem to be 8 of them) Each turn you have to answer if the current position and/or letter matches the position and/or letter from N turns ago. (Where N is constant through the game.)
Why are you not supposed to use techniques when doing the game?
It should be a) possible and b) desirable to do so.
A 20 loci journey and a good knowledge of which loci are N steps behind seem to be all that is required.
It’s difficult because the objects shift, but maybe enough loci would be able to handle that.
This is an idea copied from a Facebook discussion:
For dual 2-back, I was thinking that if one numbered the squares 1-9, one could make double images and have them march by in sets of two:
B6 = Pavorotti, elephant
L8 = lima bean, snowman
…then when the next set arrives, have B6 march out of the room, and the next one march in through the other door. If the one marching in matches the one marching out, push the key(s).
For 3 or 4 modalities (position + letter + color), the images could walk by in larger sets. For higher-numbered N-backs, maybe just create loci in the same room? If one could line up a grid of loci (12x2) it might be possible to get up to 12 correct…
Check out this thread where people are sayngi that they are doing 12-back:
http://cognitivefun.net/talk/post/34593
That could be a challenging event for memory competitions, starting at triple 2-back (position + letter + color) and working up to triple 12-back or more, until only one competitor was left. 
They don’t.
As it works now, each round has 24 ‘trials’
So just imagine a journey with 24 loci.
Every 3 seconds you fill another locus with 2 items as normal.
So at the end you have a journey the same as any other memory journey with 24x2 items memorised along it.
The only way this is different is you start your recall journey before you have finished the memorisation journey.
With the recall journey being 2 loci behind. If you know your journey well enough to know, for example, that the front door is 2 loci behind the stairs, you only have to remember where you are once.
Once you’ve practiced this technique a little, any N back should be easy.
Hmmmm… if it’s possible, I hope that someone does it as a proof of concept.
I think you shouldn’t use techniques in this game. The point of this game is not to get as back as possible, but to be on the edge of your natural capabilities. That’s how you increase your fluid intelligence.
The fluid intelligence is the power of the brain to work in untrained, new conditions, and a crystal intelligence is how well you handle trained, and already seen challenges. So if you want to improve your fluid intelligence(which is what is important if you want to get around unknown situations well, you need to play intuitively, 'cos if you use techniques, you make this game nothing but a routine, which will be effective on your brain improvement equally as any other task you do often.
“If god had wanted us to fly he would have given us wings.”
Not using your intelligence to solve the problem at hand seems to me to be the unintelligent option.
If you want to train your fluid intelligence, do it by finding new unseen challenges. Using an unintelligent strategy and praying to the gods of intuition isn’t going to help.
Using a technique to assist with the completion of Dual N-Black will be very beneficial in assisting your brain in becoming stronger, especially with memory techniques but no one should count out the fact that this game could be extremely powerful for improving your STM or other parts of the brain.
Most human brains can allow a maximum of 7 items stored in working memory (STM) without the assistance of a memory aid such as chunking. Could this game increase or assist with this?
Probably
I have completed roughly 15 weeks of Dual N-back training. The program I use is at http://www.mindsparke.com/ Martin, the CEO, is a great guy and I love the product.
Dual N-back is interesting. I’ve gotten to 10-back and have noticed significant improvement in working memory. But its a different type of training compared to mnemonics. While my mental speed increased, my ability to remember things did not. I would suggest dual n-back as a way to strengthen your association skills.
One last thought: while I did create a mnemonic structure to ‘beat’ n-back, I now think it was a waste of time. I noticed the most improvement from simply keeping my mind still and letting my subconscious work out the best way to play dual n-back.
That being said, go ahead and try anything to help you with n-back; I personally saw greater improvement in using it for quick associations and thinking quickly.
I agree with MotleyBrew regarding that n-back trains a different type of memory from mnemotechniques.
I’ve been doing it for a 1 week or so, and have found myself being more focused/attentive on work. It has helped in deck memorisation by helping me to keep my concentration.
That program looks interesting. It has N-back plus other features?
I wish they didn’t require people to enter a credit card to start the trial, otherwise I would try it.