201 replies to this topic

[Candidatus]

Hi guys,

 

In 10 days, I'm starting a year long project where I'll be doing a full-time brain enhancement routine. The goal is to find out if it is possible to positively alter adult human cognition by the means of research based but also experimental tools. Basically, I have set up a daily routine for myself consisting of:

 

- Neurofeedback training using TAG sync and TLC7

- nir-HEG prefrontal cortex training

- n-back training

- HRV training

- supplements and also various nootropics

- meditation

- primal ketogenic diet

- sleep optimisation

- HIT exercise

- tDCS

- LLLT

 

and a few more things. I will devote ca 6 hours daily into those things, another 7 hours to learning a new skills to have a benchmark (web development and language vocabulary in this case), 8 hours to sleep and the rest to occasional work and writing those things up. So this basically means 300+ hours of n-back over the year, some 300+ hours of meditation, 300+ NFB sessions and so on. As for the noots, I will do several stacks, 1 month on 1 month off. So far, I'm planning to do trubrain stack with piracetam, then Cerebrolysin and also Semax. I have experiences with the first two (here is my thread about Cere from 2012 somewhere).

 

So, the goal is to track everything. I have sleep trackers, HRV devices, EEG headbands + Q-WIZ. I will also visit imunological lab for various tests, I have fMRI scan of my brain, I'll do QEEG mapping and stuff like that.

 

So basically, I would like to keep this thread as a kind of "log" where I can share my progress and receive feedback, discuss it and so on. By no means do I think that any conclusions from this project will be generally applicable, but they certainly might be interesting. This was my long time dream and since I have finished my degrees, could take some time off and have even a bit of money, I thought I might give it a shot. 

 

I will be tracking my progress mainly on a dedicated blog on www.effectivebrain.com, but I will frequent this forum because I'd very much appreciate input from members along my journey.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Edited by Mind, 23 October 2014 - 04:13 PM.

[Godof Smallthings]

First of all, I look forward to reading about your experiences and think the project sounds awesome in general.

However - be smart and build this up gradually - patience is a severely underrated 'muscle', and to achieve clear gains in mental and physical fitness, you must have sufficient rest.

 

Cold starting this many things at once will likely be incredibly taxing, and also inevitably cause confusion as to which routine has what effect, and how they interact.

 

Starting LLLT tends to make people very tired the next day. Granted, this effect usually disappears over time, but to run sessions of both tDCS and LLLT on the same day is probably a bad idea in general. I would separate tDCS and LLLT into their own blocks of, say, 1-2 months, separated by a couple of weeks of recovery in between.

 

Nir HEG and nBacking are both really taxing. You have a limited amount of mental and physical energy each day, so don't overdo things.

Wish you all the best with your experimentation.

[Candidatus]

@godof

 

Thanks for your insight. My routine is designed in a way that I will start "just" with EEG (morning), n-back, meditation, nir-HEG (evening) and HRV each day and then I will add things like tDCS, LLT, noots on a monthly basis in my "monthly experiments". That means, I will do one protocol for a month, assess the results and either use it further or ditch it.

 

I am aware that this kind of protocol is taxing and I do not want to slip off, that's one reason why I created the blog - to stay accountable.

 

As for the monthly experiments, I'm planning to do: Image Streaming, truBrain stack, LLLT, tDCS, coffee mith butter and MCT ("bulletproof"), more sleep, and mot probably Cerebrolysin and Semax. But only one at a time...

[Al Capacino]

I've been interested in tdcs and semax for a while and shall look forward to hearing of your experiences

[Candidatus]

@Al Capacino

 

Thanks. I will share my experience with them, but they are further down the list of my monthly experiments. Perhaps in 5-6 months. I'll let you know when I have some measured outcomes though.

[Candidatus]

So I'm finally setting up my Q-WIZ for neurofeedback training today. I had a chance to play my first design for nir-HEG yesterday and boy is it hard to go above baseline! Today, I'll be measuring the brain activity for the ABCD assessment and TLC7 designs. If anybody would be interested, I might try to make a screencast or video of the process. 

 

Also, I had some valuable conversations with Karen and Pete from brain-trainer, so I think it might be a good idea to share parts of it with anybody interested. It's mostly about TLC7.

 

"The ABCD produces a full training plan from the assessment files that you send to Pete. That training plan has everything you need to train yourself to achieve your personal training goals. The plan will have 5 training blocks that will have 3-4 sessions per block. Pete calls it whole-brain training. Once you have completed the 5 blocks (15-20 sessions) then you start at block 1 again, like circuit training in the gym."

 

"As you continue training, the changes will last longer, and you can begin doing the training less frequently, maybe 2-3 sessions per week.  By the time you have done 20 sessions (4 circuits), you may find that they changes are lasting a whole week or more without training.  That usually means your brain has stabilized in its new pattern.
If you have new issues that you want to train, perhaps you would do another assessment and get a new plan.  Many times you might shift at this time and just do Alpha Theta or Alpha-Gamma Synchrony 2-3 times a week as an ongoing "peak performance" 

 

 Q-WIZ.jpg   98.97KB   17 downloads

[Candidatus]

I've been at my biochem lab for blood tests today and so far, I have:

 

- HDL, LDL, total cholesterol, Triglycerides, fasting glucose

- uric acid, albumin, C-reactive protein, Magnesium, Calcium

- Vitamin D, Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), testosterone

- hemoglobin and rest of the general bloof panel

 

I'm thinking about adding B12, folate, T3, T4 and Cortisol to the list... but I don't know. Would be glad for any suggestions!

[Candidatus]

Ok, so I kept the lab tests as they are. I have slightly higher cholesterol and lower Vitamin-D and Testosterone so I have somethings to work on. I've read somewhere that higher testosterone levels increase motivation and also cognitive function. Interesting fact: the Vitamin-D test alone was more expensive than all the others combined, by a large margin.

 

Where should I aim with the D? My goal is about 60-70 ng/l. Any suggestions?

 

Also, I'm going to undergo a battery of tests with a cognitive psychology PhD today: BOMAT, BVMT-R, Raven matrices, Stanford Binet and Wechsler - so basically everything related to working memory and fluid intelligence. This was advised to me by Dan Hurley - author of Smarter: The new science of building brainpower. Excellet book with a lot of scientific references.

 

I will also do all the cambridgebrainsciences.com tests to set up a benchmark in this areea. I have already done a supervised IQ test at Mensa a year ago and since I can only take 3 in my life (due to the retest effect), I will keep that score as a reference. I scored 144, which is basically 2 SD above mean. I will also try some internet based IQ tests if I find some. Any suggestions?

Edited by Candidatus, 23 October 2014 - 06:19 AM.

[Adaptogen]

I would like to add that a true primal diet and a ketogenic diet are not necessarily congruent, and evidence seems to indicate that a diet high in saturated fats is not conducive to long term health. This is coming from the fact that the macronutrient breakdown of the traditional okinawans, one of the longest living populations in the world, consume only 9% protein / 6% fat. there is no long living population in existence that consumes a 'paleolithic' diet in the shape of 30% protein 40% fat.

however, that is not to say that short term ketogenic diets may not help certain health compromised individuals; they seem to effectively allow such individuals to regain their metabolic flexibility with regards to the ability to oxidate fat, but i do not think this wholly beneficial in all individuals (despite being enticingly easy to bulk with and consume a caloric surplous)

 

a plant based diet, heavy in complex carbohydrates and plenty of prebiotics in the form of oligofructose / resistant starches (leeks, onions, garlic, green plantains, cashews, raw sweet potatoes) would certainly have a more beneficial impact on your gut microbiome than a tmao producing, carnitine heavy "paleo" diet

[Candidatus]

@Adaptogen

 

Thanks, that's valuable input. I do not dispute the fact that Okinawans live longer on a completely different diet and I do not claim that `primal` ketogenic diet is the holy grail of longevity, it isn't. However, I'll be using it only for the purpose of cognitive enhancement, since there are many anecdotal claims and also a bit of scientific support that ketogenic diet might enhance "brain performance". And I do not want to claim it's in fact true until I try it on myself for a prolonged period of time. And even then, it will be 100% applicable only for myself, not for others. That's the reality for n=1 experiments.

 

Also, I know that "Primal" and "ketogenic" are not really congruent, I only wanted to emphasise the sources of food I'll be using - only organic, without any man made substances (except supplements of course).

 

I'll be definitely supplementing with probiotics and resistant starches though, since I know they are important for gut health and are not really present in classic ketogenic diets. The structure of macros will be more like 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% digestable carbs with omega3:6 ratio being 1:1 or very close.

 

Thanks for feedback though!

Edited by Candidatus, 23 October 2014 - 08:05 AM.

[Candidatus]

Brain training: Day #3

 

So now it's third day in my brain improvement project. Some interesting things happened which I want to share.

 

1. I am totally amazed by the nir-HEG Focus trainer headband. I'm using it with the LIFE GAME design from brain-trainer and it really forces you to focus as much as you can. And it has very interesting side effect.

2. Dual-n-back scores: after 2 days of training, I reached dual-8-back without much problems and a complete control over the game. I have never been so far before, I used to play 9-back for a while on Cerebrolysin, but got there with manual settings, never crossing the 8-back line. Now, almost 2 years forward with almost no training in between, I have reached this level. I attribute most of it to the Focus trainer.

 

I received my TLC7 whole brain training protocol from brain trainer, so I'm ready to start the training today. I have several weeks worth of training and after that, I will follow with TAG Sync.

 

In the nootropic department, I am only taking general "nootropic" supplements right now, such as Krill Oil, DHA, Phosphatidyl Serine or Magnesium Threonate. Definitely looking forward some interesting stacks, but they have to come one at a time.

 

Overall, I feel very alert and focused. This can be a placebo effect from the initial motivation but I highly doubt it. I am even much more productive in writing articles than before.

 

What concerns me are the respective numbers for sleep stages durations - too little REM and Deep sleep according to Withings Aura. Hopefully it's only a problem in their algorithm, not in "mine". I would buy some kind of Zeo sleep tracker which monitors EEG anytime, but since they are out of business, I don't have a better choice than Aura (monitors HR, breath and movement). If you have any tip for EEG based sleep tracker, please tell me.

 

 Fo more detail, I am tracking my progress on http://www.effective...n.com/progress/

Edited by Candidatus, 29 October 2014 - 04:04 PM.

[Godof Smallthings]

If your sleep quality results prove correct, my suspicion is that the cause is brainwave entrainment. From personal experience, it can affect sleep quite significantly. I do not do entrainment in the evenings anymore.

 

If the trend continues, that is where I would start the sleep troubleshooting.

[Candidatus]

@Godof Smallthings

 

Thanks, I had that suspicion also, but just to stay on a safe side, I contacted the WIthings support to review the data (HR and breathing data are not available to see yet from the App). 

 

Interesting thing is that I feel VERY refreshed in the morning, even after sleeping only for 6-6,5 hours whereas before I started the project, I could barely get up with 7-7,5 hours. But still, the values concern me.

 

I will definitely do my nir-HEG sessions only in the morning and Neurofeedback training in the evening. 2 HEG sessions/day were probably overkill (even though the focus I get afterwards is amazing.)

 

I'll try to find some "cheap" EEG sleep monitor. I would buy ZEO but since they went OOB, I have worries that I could not be able to find spare parts in the future.

 

Once again, thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!

 

Edited by Candidatus, 30 October 2014 - 06:21 AM.

[AOLministrator]

Please consider: Do Reiki or something for a year first, while taking all the tests and not aiming at any other improvement than through Reiki rays (or whatever ridiculous stuff they believe in). This will tell much about your natural ability to improve your test scores by training with the tests, without actually improving at the things the tests are supposed to measure. It will also sort of act like a placebo control. As you may know placebo is clinically effective and so is receiving constant attention by health care professionals. The same way, you will be subjected to placebo as well as just necessarily paying more attention to yourself and being subjected to attention through the internet.

 

Then the next year we can compare that to things that actually work, like drugs. Otherwise we will not receive meaningful results at all. It sounds a bit retarded to do one year of Reiki, but it is a necessity.

Edited by Aolministrator, 30 October 2014 - 10:53 AM.

[Strangelove]

Brain training: Day #3

 

So now it's third day in my brain improvement project. Some interesting things happened which I want to share.

 

1. I am totally amazed by the nir-HEG Focus trainer headband. I'm using it with the LIFE GAME design from brain-trainer and it really forces you to focus as much as you can. And it has very interesting side effect.

2. Dual-n-back scores: after 2 days of training, I reached dual-8-back without much problems and a complete control over the game. I have never been so far before, I used to play 9-back for a while on Cerebrolysin, but got there with manual settings, never crossing the 8-back line. Now, almost 2 years forward with almost no training in between, I have reached this level. I attribute most of it to the Focus trainer.

 

I received my TLC7 whole brain training protocol from brain trainer, so I'm ready to start the training today. I have several weeks worth of training and after that, I will follow with TAG Sync.

 

In the nootropic department, I am only taking general "nootropic" supplements right now, such as Krill Oil, DHA, Phosphatidyl Serine or Magnesium Threonate. Definitely looking forward some interesting stacks, but they have to come one at a time.

 

Overall, I feel very alert and focused. This can be a placebo effect from the initial motivation but I highly doubt it. I am even much more productive in writing articles than before.

 

What concerns me are the respective numbers for sleep stages durations - too little REM and Deep sleep according to Withings Aura. Hopefully it's only a problem in their algorithm, not in "mine". I would buy some kind of Zeo sleep tracker which monitors EEG anytime, but since they are out of business, I don't have a better choice than Aura (monitors HR, breath and movement). If you have any tip for EEG based sleep tracker, please tell me.

 

 Fo more detail, I am tracking my progress on http://www.effective...n.com/progress/

 

Interesting, so you are getting most of the positive effects from the nir-HEG headband? For how long after the session you get the extra focus?

 

There is a thread in the bulletproof forum from a guy using the same headband with just OK results after many months of use, I do not remember the details and everyone is different, plus I do not know if he was using the life game (that looks cool) or something else, like the simpler training with a scenery that goes forward when you are in the right state.

 

It would be interesting to read your experience using the headband together with cerebrolysin. Also you would have to cycle each modality right as many things do not agree with each other, you could use mental training with two-three nootropics that support the nir-HEG (cerebrolysing sounds a good option) rest your prefrontals and try NFB the next day (at least). Also I am very interested to hear your feedback if NFB and TULIP synergise, for some reason the user OpaqueMind got adverse effects, overstimulation and chrash I believe. Very interested to read about your progress!

[Candidatus]

@Aolministrator

 

This is a valid point, or would be in case I would be a University or some research institute and I would like to clinically prove that it is possible to increase cognitive tests score without the influence of placebo. But, I don't care about that. 

 

Reasons:

1. I'm not funded by anyone, I'm paying it fully by myself and I'm also doing it for myself in the first place. So I just can't afford to take another year just to do pointless crap (sorry Reikiists)

2. I fully understand that by the way I do it, utilizing many different techniques to potentialy improve "brain performance", I can not possibly control which of those are responsible for what. I can only give my best guess.

3. Finally, if I happen to measurably improve my cognitive abilities, I would not really care about how that happens. I could even state that it was due to "Placebo, transcendental energy and the influence of Illuminati + maybe a bit of neurofeedback, brain training and healthy lifestyle". I would not care, the point is just to improve and give my best guess how it happened. Or even better monitor the progress so anyone can make their own conclusions. To be honest, I do not really care that much about any of the score I have been tested for. But they are useful for quantification. But as I said, if it happens all by placebo, then I'm 100% ok with that.

 

As you can see, this reply is a bit sarcastic. But as a person who administers Selegiline rectally, I believe you can deal with that

 

@Strangelove

Thanks for feedback. It's really hard to gauge but my best guess is that the nir-HEG has really a big influence on my focus levels. For how long, well - I feel focused all the day. It's not as apparent as if you take some caffeine or other stimulant, I think it has a build-up effect. But I'm also in a pretty deep ketosis (that's what urinal strips say), so the ketones may also positively influence the focus levels. I've read many anecdotes of this happening.

 

I believe the guy from bulletproof is Longecity member "hza" and the thread Me and HEG. Great thread. He had some results, but not really dramatic. Or as far as I know, he didn't test himself or didn't do any n-back or similar training. The effect is most apparent while doing another focus-demanding activity.

 

To be honest, I'm glad you addressed the point of overstimulation. That's the thing I'm most concerned of. I will take one day off/week from all brain training except meditation and Coherence training. And if I feel overstimulation or headaches, I may take a longer break. I will also decrease my nir-HEG to only once per day. So far, I was training twice and that was perhaps too much. 

 

I've done my first EEG session today and it feels completely different than HEG. Which is great, I think they complement each other very well.

 

Edited by Candidatus, 30 October 2014 - 04:18 PM.

[supreme89]

Great thread! It's possibly the best I've seen on here. I'm really surprised that your amazing blog isn't getting more comments/hits.

[Candidatus]

@Supreme89

 

Thanks a lot for these kind words. Means a lot. I hope there will be some interesting findings as the project progresses. In the meantime, you are of course free to share it anywhere you like

 

Back to the topic:

 

I have done a professionally administered WMS (Wechsler memory scale) test today to benchmark my memory level. It took over 2 hours and I guess it's very complex and accurate to assess different types of memory. I'll post the data perhaps tomorrow. It is the final test I'm planning to do, but if anyone has any suggestions, please share them. Thanks.

Edited by Candidatus, 30 October 2014 - 06:01 PM.

[Strangelove]

@Strangelove

Thanks for feedback. It's really hard to gauge but my best guess is that the nir-HEG has really a big influence on my focus levels. For how long, well - I feel focused all the day. It's not as apparent as if you take some caffeine or other stimulant, I think it has a build-up effect. But I'm also in a pretty deep ketosis (that's what urinal strips say), so the ketones may also positively influence the focus levels. I've read many anecdotes of this happening.

 

I believe the guy from bulletproof is Longecity member "hza" and the thread Me and HEG. Great thread. He had some results, but not really dramatic. Or as far as I know, he didn't test himself or didn't do any n-back or similar training. The effect is most apparent while doing another focus-demanding activity.

 

To be honest, I'm glad you addressed the point of overstimulation. That's the thing I'm most concerned of. I will take one day off/week from all brain training except meditation and Coherence training. And if I feel overstimulation or headaches, I may take a longer break. I will also decrease my nir-HEG to only once per day. So far, I was training twice and that was perhaps too much. 

 

I've done my first EEG session today and it feels completely different than HEG. Which is great, I think they complement each other very well.

 

Thanks for the detailed reply, just to say that its not only a matter of overstimulation, each modality brings your brain to a specific state that its good for some activities and not for others, for example there is an inverse relationship between activating the prefrontal and temporal lobes. I believe that if you exercise your focus with HEG you need nootropics that support these specific circuits. For example I guess if you try NSI that activates the hippocampi right after a prefrontal session with HEG you would get diminished results and probably feel "weird". Like being into two different brain states that "do not match". Just a theory though, only experience would tell...

 

As far as HEG goes how is your focus in general? 

Edited by Strangelove, 30 October 2014 - 08:45 PM.

[Candidatus]

@Strangelove

 

That makes sense and it's a great point. However, in order to get everything "just right", it would assume a great deal of knowledge of neuropharmacology and/or neurophysiology. I could certainly make a research myself before taking some nootropics or other substances and combining them with the training, but I'm afraid I won't have that much time for that. That's why I like this community of knowledgeable members who can advice me before I start a completely new stack. And I will definitely come for advice. Anyway, thanks for pointing this out.

[Candidatus]

@Strangelove

 

Your question about focus, how do you mean it? Like focus before or just general focus in comparison to others?

 

Before HEG, I would subjectively rate myself as 6/10 on a scale, where 1 being strong ADD and 10 being Bradley Cooper from Limitless (haha). So slightly above average. With HEG or generally now with my regimen, it moved to 8/10 and the focus is present all day long whereas before it could drop to 4 or 3 pretty often. But it is all subjective since I have no idea what feeling focused means for another person.

 

I've never taken any amphetamines or similar pharmaceutical focus boosters so can not compare to that. But the difference might be something like getting the first cup of quality coffee now vs. no coffee before. Maybe the effects is a bit less profound. 

 

This is really hard to gauge so I hope my answer is satisfactory.

Edited by Candidatus, 31 October 2014 - 11:40 AM.

[Strangelove]

That was pretty good actually, gives a good picture. To be honest I am surprised from your results, for how long you have been using the headband? I guess by focus you mean an increased endurance to stay on task right?

 

Do you have any changes in

Feeling more present?

Any increase in the executive function in the area of what I should take care next?

[Candidatus]

@Strangelove

 

I am surprised too. Well, I would say it's the endurance as well as "depth". I was actually able to write and edit 2 articles, together about 2500 words in 2-3 hours today. That's awesome by my measures (but for someone it's not a big deal I guess). 

 

About feeling more present, it's very hard to evaluate and it is very subjective, but I feel that the time is just not passing "somewhere", I am aware of my actions to a higher degree than before. But it is really very subjective, so don't take my word for it.

 

The third question is much easier to answer. I definitely feel like I'm much less prone to procrastination. I was often a bad procrastinator, but now I might check one or two different threads on longecity (and actually replying to one of them) in a span of several minutes, but that's all. While being on youtube looking for something (instruction for neurofeedback), I have no desire to undulge in youtubing. This is quite nice, but still, I would not attribute it solely to the Focus trainer. It must be a combination of many factors as well as initial motivation.

 

I would like to wait 1-2 weeks at least to give you a more grounded answer for those questions. But so far, I am very happy with the progress. If that's worth anything.

[Strangelove]

Great to the point replies, I am very interested to see your improvements the following months!

[Candidatus]

Day #6

 

So the first week is almost over and I have several interesting observations.

 

1. Yesterday, I had this though that I will monitor my dual-n-back routine with EMOTIV EPOC EEG headband. I played about 26 minutes - approx. 7 games, all of it in 8-back. I have been very focused pretty much all the time. The results are apparent in the video below, but in short - there was a massive activation of prefrontal cortex, especially in the theta frequency bandwidth.

 

 

2. I had some issues with pretty low quality sleep - Light sleep being double the amount of Deep and REM combined. Yesterday, I did 3 things. In the evening, I did only meditation and HRV training sessions and immediately before bed, I took a cold shower. But perhaps the most important factor - I took a low dose (1mg) of Melatonin right before falling asleep. And the effect was remarkable.

 

From this: 

 

To this:     

 

That is about 50% increase in Deep and REM sleep. I will cycle the Melatonin day on and day off so I can verify the result. But for me, that's quite good. And I also felt much more refreshed than any day before. 

 

3. Personal observation - I had a meeting with my friends from University this evening for about 2 hours, just chatting and so. They were curious about my project so I was explaining it to them... with noticeably increased verbal fluency. I was just talking way too fast without making breaks. I have no idea if this effect is placebo, or has something to do with the things I'm doing, so take it just as an interesting observation.

 

Also, I did my 3rd TLC7 session and I felt actually quite content after that. It is possible that all that is placebo, but even if it is, I don't care. I like it.

 

If you happen to be interested in my progress, check the progress page on my blog.

 

Edited by Candidatus, 01 November 2014 - 07:59 PM.

[Strangelove]

Great blog! A few questions.

 

Could you elaborate on your first thoughts with the EEG training designs?

 

Where are you getting the 3000 most common words for your language learning in each language? I saw a password protected site for Mandarin (I may be interested for Spanish or German). Have you made any reading in "language hacking"? I am courious how it would work if someone learnt the 3000 most common words, very basic grammar and stayed 6 months in a foreign country.

[Mind]

So you took a memory test....after you started???

 

Did you take a battery of mental performance tests before starting? Maybe I missed that part.

[Candidatus]

@Mind

 

Yes I took a memory test after I started. Wechsler Memory Scale actually - the gold standard. And on the 4th day to be accurate. Of course I wanted to take the test before and I had a scheduled appointment for it a week before, but it had to be canceled (not my fault). Then I rescheduled it to Monday but that also didn't work out. I guess that we are only human beings and such things happen. And I didn't want to postpone the start of my project just because of that.

 

To your second question: I indeed took several mental performance tests before starting. I'm writing about it on my blog, but I should have perhaps shared my results here. The tests are:

 

WAIS-IV (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) - the gold standard among intelligence tests. It was professionally administered by a friend working on my local Uni at Psychology department. I took the test on Thursday before starting my project. The results are following: Overall IQ: 133, Verbal IQ: 139, Performance IQ: 124 + several subtest IQs.

Mensa IQ test - I took this test exactly 1 year ago. The reason I did not retest myself is that to my knowledge, you can only take 3 tests at certified Mensa centre in your lifetime. So the assumption is that my IQ score didn't improve over the year (since I have done virtually nothing to improve it). The test score was 144.

IQ challenge from cambrisgebrainsciences.com - also a battery of cognitive tasks/tests which gives you a percentile number and a score in several subtests. I got these percentiles: short-term memory: 89, reasoning ability: 96, verbal intelligence: 97.

 

I have also a QEEG map of my brain (only in a raw data form right now) and a fMRI scan of my brain. Those were taken to assess any structural changes in the brain and are not more than 1 month old.

 

I have done my best to make some objective initial assessments but I can only do so much. This is a personal project, not a research project and I'm not going to publish the results in any scientific journal or anything close. With that in mind, I believe I have done enough to support my outcomes at least as an anecdotal evidence. Hope you can understand my situation and view.

 

Edited by Candidatus, 02 November 2014 - 03:13 PM.

[Candidatus]

@Strangelove

 

My reply was deleted by accident before submitting, I will try to recreate it.

 

Neurofeedback: All I can say is that I feel better after the training blocks, both mentally and emotionally (again, very subjective). Yesterday, I trained a design called Gamma-up training, which actually felt very good even while playing. As for the designs, they all have auto-threshold function, so I'm basically only watching the feedback (either fractals video or classical music) and try to make it play/move faster. I suppose this is the case with every neurofeedback design. 

 

Otherwise I'm afraid I can not say anything more accurate. I will probably make a short video/tutorial about the set up playing one design, but I don't know if that would be of an interest to you. I will try to make some notes during and after the sessions so I can share the observations with you.

 

Language: I am using a Skritter App for learning chinese. There are list of up to 6000 most common words and characters, so it's a great resource. But since you are interested in another languages, I would encourage you to check out this guide: http://blog.artofmem...-anki-4561.html - you can learn how to generate a list of the most common words in any language and make ANKI file out of it. 

 

As for language hacks, my favourites are those:

http://learnlangs.co...nt_passages.htm - A bit crazy reading, but I think that this method is far superior to anything related to language learning. Use this software to align the parallel translations - http://www.youalign.com/AlignDocs.aspx?fromlogin=1

http://www.foreignla...uage_study.html - a blog of the most hardcore polyglot alive. This man speaks about 50 languages and his technique is quite similar to the one above.

http://fourhourworkw...ever-forget-it/ - I'm not a Ferriss fanboy, but I like this guest post about language learning theory.

 

I guess you know some about language learning, but some interesting apps or websites: memrise.com, italki.com

 

Hope you can make something out of it. But take it from someone who only speaks 3 languages fluently (mother tongue, english and german), so I am no expert in languages (yet ). Good luck with learning! Your approach of 3000 words + 6 months seems solid.

Edited by Candidatus, 02 November 2014 - 03:12 PM.

[Strangelove]

@Strangelove

 

My reply was deleted by accident before submitting, I will try to recreate it.

 

Neurofeedback: All I can say is that I feel better after the training blocks, both mentally and emotionally (again, very subjective). Yesterday, I trained a design called Gamma-up training, which actually felt very good even while playing. As for the designs, they all have auto-threshold function, so I'm basically only watching the feedback (either fractals video or classical music) and try to make it play/move faster. I suppose this is the case with every neurofeedback design. 

 

Otherwise I'm afraid I can not say anything more accurate. I will probably make a short video/tutorial about the set up playing one design, but I don't know if that would be of an interest to you. I will try to make some notes during and after the sessions so I can share the observations with you.

 

 

Sure, I am interested to see it. Take your time with it, whenever you feel like it make the video, I would probably be more interested in Tagsync as it got some good feedback... But as you ll try many designs make a video with whatever you found more effective!