I reached 7-back in Dual N-Back (position + audio). So I assumed any other pair would be easy at low levels. It wasn't.
Why try something new? Doing one thing repeatedly makes your brain better at the task you do. Doing something new makes it enter unmapped territory.
So I tried Color and Shape N-Back to get this novelty.
My first feeling was total confusion. My brain didn’t register the color and the shape at all.
It just dropped them when they came as a pair. The first trick I started to do was to name the color and the shape in my head. It worked. But then I realized that I was just remembering the sequence of words in my head - not the actual colors or shapes.
So I decided to force myself out of saying words. It felt like I started the N-Back task for the first time ever. I could barely pass 1-back. 2-back was almost impossible.
My goal now is to train Color and Shape separately, to be able to finish at least 3-back without sub-vocalizing. Then I will get back to both together.
What's going on in your brain
Brain research suggests we handle "where things are" and "what things are" in partly different ways. Classic Dual N-Back (position + audio) leans on spatial memory and on memory for sounds. Color and Shape N-Back asks for something else: holding what an object looks like.
In the brain, color and shape are processed mostly along the lower visual pathway, in the back and side of the brain (often called the "what" pathway). Keeping that information in mind for a few seconds is thought to involve areas in the front of the brain and the upper back of it.
Psychologists call this kind of short-term holding visual working memory. Holding color and shape together as one object, rather than as two separate facts, seems to take extra attention. That may be why this mode feels so hard at first, even for people who are good at other N-Back types.
Why not just say the words?
A well-known model of working memory (Baddeley and Hitch) splits short-term memory into a "verbal" part and a "visual" part. When you name things in your head ("red square"), you move the task over to the verbal part. That often makes it easier, but then you're mostly practicing memory for words. If your goal is to practice visual memory, it makes sense to keep the words out.
How to do it right
- Train one at a time first: Color alone, then Shape alone.
- Don't name things in your head. Try to hold the picture, not the word.
- Drop the level. Starting at 1-back is fine, even if you're strong in other modes.
- Go back to Color + Shape together only when single mode feels steady.