jperryhouts/dual-n-back

Memory game that's been shown to improve working memory.

Dual-N-Back Game

Play it online at https://dual-n-back.io/.

Based on the task originally proposed by [1], and adapted by [2]. Dual N-Back has been shown to improve working memory over time. For more information see [3] and [4].

Instructions

The goal of each level is to remember the state of the game exactly N timesteps ago.

The game board is a set of eight squares. They will flash in a random order, at three seconds intervals. When you recognize that the same square flashed exactly N steps ago, you press the button.

Simultaneously, one letter is spoken at each time step. When you recognize that the same letter was spoken exactly N steps ago, you press the button.

**Example sequence for N=2 game.** The player must remember the state of the game board N steps ago. If you do well, N will increase on the next round. If you don't do so well, N will decrease on the next round (down to N=1). There are 20+N time steps in each round.

Credits:

Based on the work of [1], [2], and others. Audio clips adapted from [5], most of the icons are from [6].

[1] Jaeggi, S. M. et al. Does excessive memory load attenuate activation in the prefrontal cortex? Load-dependent processing in single and dual tasks: functional magnetic resonance imaging study. NeuroImage 19, 210–225 (2003).
[2] Blacker, K. J., Negoita, S., Ewen, J. B. & Courtney, S. M. N-back Versus Complex Span Working Memory Training. J Cogn Enhanc 1–21 (2017). doi:10.1007/s41465-017-0044-1
[3] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/10/23/558767704/in-memory-training-smackdown-one-method-dominates
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-back#Dual_n-back
[5] http://soundbible.com/2009-A-Z-Vocalized.html (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license)
[6] http://simpleicon.com/ (Pretty much same as the CC Attribution license)

dual-n-back's Issues

Keyboard input

On desktop, being able to press keys (rather than only use the mouse) would require less mental context switching into motor control.

Cannot tap both Eye and Sound buttons simultaneously on Android

If I tap both buttons simultaneously (say within ~200 milliseconds of each other), neither registers.

When using this on a phone, that's annoying, as it feels like you should be able to tap both simultaneously.

Tested in Android Firefox 68.11.0 and Android Chrome 84.0.4147.125 on Android 8.0.0 (device is a Samsung Galaxy S7).

Tapping buttons on Galaxy S7 tends to select text

In Firefox on my Galaxy S7, when I tap the Eye and Sound buttons while playing, I fairly often activate text selection.

Fixing this might be as easy as setting user-select: none in the CSS for those buttons. I'm on my S7 right now or I might just try it myself.

Can this project work on Windows Chrome?

I tried running the index.html file using Visual Studio Code (v1.66.2) as I wanted to make edits to test configuration. Got the below error which got resolved by adding the js files as source files.

Uncaught ReferenceError ReferenceError: start_game is not defined
at onclick (c:\Users.......\index.html:71:45)

Next, I got this error.
Uncaught DOMException DOMException: Blocked a frame with origin "null" from accessing a cross-origin frame.
at get_screen ([d:......\js\logic.js:83:62)
at document.getElementById.onload ([d:.......\js\logic.js:162:9)
--- load ---
at goto_game ([d:......\js\logic.js:161:49)
at start_game ([d:.....\js\logic.js:527:5)
at onclick ([d:......\index.html:75:45)

Is there a way to run it on Windows Chrome or am I missing here something? I was able to play the online version on my Windows Chrome browser. Thanks in advance.