Improving Intelligence

Dual N-Back

A free on-line application that provides dual-n-back training for memory and intelligence.

This site has an application that may, with daily training, improve a person's intelligence. This application was designed according to the protocol (Dual N-Back Task) found in a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While the findings are only preliminary, the results are startling: It may be possible to increase almost anyone's IQ (or, more accurately, gF). Because this is such an exciting finding, we have decided to make this application and make it freely available on the web. It's our hope that the application is truly helpful for people. If it is helpful for you, please send us an e-mail.

Why is this important?

A person's intelligence (as approximated by IQ or fluid intelligence-gF) is predictive of a person's educational and professional success. People who score high on intelligence tests tend to do better in life. But strangely, before this research, intelligence hasn't been conclusively shown to be affected by schooling or other social factors. This is surprising to most people. That isn't to say that school isn't important; it is crucial. It just doesn't increase intelligence.

How do I do it?

In the study performed by Susanne M. Jaeggi et. al., study subjects practiced the dual n-back test for about 20 minutes a day for up to 19 days. At the end of that time, the subjects were shown to have increased intelligences (as measured by gF). We've created a dual n-back application that closely mimics the one used in the study. Go here for a demonstration or here for more information on how to do it. You'll find that it's difficult at first - just as it was for the study subjects. However, with practice, the task becomes much more natural.

Brought to you By

Erik Mork's Silverlight company Silver Bay Labs where we do iPad Development. See our latest project: a kid's iPad game called Ronnie Robot.