Now that is even more useful. I have heard plenty of subjective experience reports but none of the personal anecdotes have come with solid data. I would rather like to see similar reports from 100 other people!
Although come to think of it I would probably benefit even more from just having results for me, personally. I’ve actually downloaded the same piece of software myself today and started practicing. I’ll give myself time for the learning curve to slow down then see how it changes when I start gulping piracetam, aniracitam and CDP-choline in my typical dose.
Having a site like PatientsLikeMe for anti-akrasia techniques would be awesome. Or productivity techniques in general.
If somebody made an open-source, easily modifiable and pluginnable platform for a general “report your experiences with thing X” site that could be customized into reporting about anything, be it akrasia techniques or medical treatments or something else… they’d probably contribute more utilons to the world with that action than most people ever will.
I’ve done a certain amount of thinking on this particular topic, so if anyone is really genuinely truly going to do a startup around it, please call me first.
I actually started creating such a site a while back (because I wanted one for personal use and generalised from there). It got put on the back burner in preference for money earning. That more utilons to the world than most people ever will sounds tempting. :)
I get consistent 100% scores on D2B so I think I’ll use D3B as a ‘learning’ level. I’m still trying to figure out the right ‘thinking’ strategy to use for D3+B. With D2B I just empty my mind, look at the cross and ‘just press the right answer’. But that doesn’t work reliably for me on D3B. I seem to go better actively rehearsing the sequences in my mind and explicitly forming a picture of what historical item fits ‘next’. My performance is wildly variable (30% to 80%) and depends massively on whether my brain gets in the right zone.
I’m already noticing my brain modifying itself in response to the training. My competitive instincts take control and whenever they spot any unhelpful thinking they throw it out. Distractions, anxieties, frustration at making mistakes, none of these help it win and the brain can identify that right there in the short term. So all the habits of mental hygiene that I have worked to develop for myself get magnified.
One thing I’ve tried sometimes is to only remember half the sequence. Like I try to remember the audio sequence explicitly, and “just press the right answer” for the visual stimulus.
http://groups.google.com/group/brain-training/browse_thread/thread/4f52e50ef2c0e64/b867b21b76be7895
Great link Gwern. It has just about inspired me to dust off some of my stashes of ’racetams and CDP choline and play again.
Glad you found it useful. I’ve followed up with some more stats about performance while being off/out of piracetam & choline.
Now that is even more useful. I have heard plenty of subjective experience reports but none of the personal anecdotes have come with solid data. I would rather like to see similar reports from 100 other people!
Although come to think of it I would probably benefit even more from just having results for me, personally. I’ve actually downloaded the same piece of software myself today and started practicing. I’ll give myself time for the learning curve to slow down then see how it changes when I start gulping piracetam, aniracitam and CDP-choline in my typical dose.
Having a site like PatientsLikeMe for anti-akrasia techniques would be awesome. Or productivity techniques in general.
If somebody made an open-source, easily modifiable and pluginnable platform for a general “report your experiences with thing X” site that could be customized into reporting about anything, be it akrasia techniques or medical treatments or something else… they’d probably contribute more utilons to the world with that action than most people ever will.
You should check out the Quantified Self, both for finding existing tools and for finding people to use future tools.
Thankyou! I’ll make use of that.
I’ve done a certain amount of thinking on this particular topic, so if anyone is really genuinely truly going to do a startup around it, please call me first.
I actually started creating such a site a while back (because I wanted one for personal use and generalised from there). It got put on the back burner in preference for money earning. That more utilons to the world than most people ever will sounds tempting. :)
FWIW, DNB does have a learning curve of a few levels. I wouldn’t really trust any stats until D3B.
I get consistent 100% scores on D2B so I think I’ll use D3B as a ‘learning’ level. I’m still trying to figure out the right ‘thinking’ strategy to use for D3+B. With D2B I just empty my mind, look at the cross and ‘just press the right answer’. But that doesn’t work reliably for me on D3B. I seem to go better actively rehearsing the sequences in my mind and explicitly forming a picture of what historical item fits ‘next’. My performance is wildly variable (30% to 80%) and depends massively on whether my brain gets in the right zone.
I’m already noticing my brain modifying itself in response to the training. My competitive instincts take control and whenever they spot any unhelpful thinking they throw it out. Distractions, anxieties, frustration at making mistakes, none of these help it win and the brain can identify that right there in the short term. So all the habits of mental hygiene that I have worked to develop for myself get magnified.
One thing I’ve tried sometimes is to only remember half the sequence. Like I try to remember the audio sequence explicitly, and “just press the right answer” for the visual stimulus.