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About this tool
Train your working memory and fluid intelligence with the scientifically proven Dual N-Back task.
Working Memory Trainer is a dual n-back trainer: a square lights up on a 3x3 grid while a letter is spoken, and you press A when the position repeats the one from n steps back and L when the letter does. A session runs 20 scored trials with stimuli shown for 500 ms every 2.5 seconds and roughly 30% of trials set as targets, then scores you as hits minus false alarms over the number of targets. Score 80% or better and it moves you up an n-level; drop below 50% and it steps you back down.
Open Working Memory Trainer on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Scoring is (hits minus false alarms) divided by targets, so pressing on every trial cannot inflate the result the way raw hit count would.
The level moves automatically at the 80% and 50% thresholds, keeping the task near the edge of what you can hold.
Dual mode reports hits, misses and false alarms for the visual and auditory streams independently, so you can see which one is dragging.
You judge whether the current stimulus matches the one that appeared exactly n steps earlier. At 2-back with the sequence 4, 7, 4 the third item is a match; you must hold a rolling window of the last n items and update it on every trial, which is what makes it a working-memory task rather than a memory-span test.
Twenty scored trials, plus n warm-up trials that cannot be targets. Each stimulus is visible for 500 ms and a new one arrives every 2,500 ms, so a session takes roughly one minute at any n-level.
The honest answer is that it is contested. The original 2008 dual n-back studies reported gains on fluid-intelligence measures, but later meta-analyses found the improvement is largely task-specific with weak evidence of transfer to unrelated abilities. Treat this as a training exercise and a score to beat, not a clinical intervention — for concerns about memory or attention, speak to a doctor.
A for a position match and L for a letter match. Dual mode speaks the letters through the browser's speech synthesis, so it needs audio; if you cannot use sound, switch to single mode, which scores the visual grid only.