How to Play Recall

This game is based upon the n-back task .

In our space-themed game, you have been abducted by a hostile alien species. To escape, you must navigate though a series of wormholes using one of their ships. To advance wormholes, you need to zap matching fuel cells (determined by the n-back). The ships sensors will give you cues to help you determine which fuel pods to zap (the n-back targets) and which ones to collect (the other fuel pods) to fuel your ship. Remember the sequence of colors, shapes, and sounds.

Sometimes the fuel pods may randomly cloak their color, shape, or sound. This means that at least one of those signals will be missing, so you should remember all three pieces of information (color, shape, sound) together.

Don’t fret if you don’t get it at first, this is brain training and it is meant to be challenging. After a few days, you’ll be proud of your progress.

Lets start by getting familiar with the screen elements. The game provides information about your task and progress:

• Move your ship by swiping your finger to the left and right
• You need to COLLECT fuel pods to keep your ship moving. To collect a fuel pod — move your ship in front of the fuel pod.
• To advance levels you need to ZAP matching fuel pods. To zap a matching fuel pod tap your finger on the screen. A laser beam will zap the match!

Targets are fuel pods that have a color, shape, and/or sound that match the features of a fuel pod that is n-items back in the sequence. At the beginning of each level, the intro screen states what features are task relevant (color/sound, shape/sound, sound only, or color/shape/sound). These are the features that you need to remember as you go through the wormhole. Some examples are as follows:

Match by COLOR

• Zap matching fuel pods to advance levels
• You will know a fuel pod is a match if its color matches the pod the correct number back for that wormhole
• For example, for the 2-back wormhole you will zap a pod only if it is the same color as the one two pods back, on a 3-back wormhole you will zap the pod only if it is the same color as the one three pods back
• Collect all other pods to keep fuel in your tank!

Match by SHAPE

• Zap matching fuel pods to advance levels
• You will know a fuel pod is a match if its shape matches the pod the correct number back for that wormhole
• For example, for the 2-back wormhole you will zap a pod only if it is the same shape as the one two pods back, on a 3-back wormhole you will zap the pod only if it is the same shape as the one three pods back
• Collect all other pods to keep fuel in your tank!

Match by SOUND

• Sometimes you will match a fuel pod based only on the sound it makes. So listen very carefully!
• You will hear a sound play at the same time a fuel pod appears on the horizon, the sound played is associated with this pod. Zap matching fuel pods to advance levels
• You will know a fuel pod is a match if its sound matches the pod the correct number back for that wormhole
• For example, for the 2-back wormhole you will zap a pod only if it is the same sound as the one two pods back, on a 3-back wormhole you will zap the pod only if it is the same sound as the one three pods back
• Collect all other pods to keep fuel in your tank!

HOLDOUT

• Sometimes the fuel pods may randomly cloak their color, shape or sound
• This means one or more of those signals will be missing, so you should remember all three pieces of information (color, shape, sound) together
• It might look something like this:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do I know what items to zap?
Targets are fuel pods that have a color, shape, and/or sound that match the features of a fuel pod that is n-items back in the sequence. At the beginning of each level, the intro screen states what features are task relevant (color/sound, shape/sound, sound only, or color/shape/sound). These are the features that you need to remember as you go through the wormhole.

Why is the color, shape, or sound sometimes missing during a level?
Welcome to the holdout. These levels teach you to perform the memory task on the associated color, shape, and sound. You should notice that the circle is always blue, the triangle yellow, the star green, and the cylinder red (they also each have a unique sound). Your goal is to remember the features that go together and perform the memory task on these objects, even when some features are missing. For example, if when you first saw the fuel pod it was blue, and then when you are matching, you see a circle, then you want to zap it because that is a match. Give it a shot, you’ll get it.

I don’t like the holdout, how do I get rid of it?
The holdout is good for your cognitive training and we hope that you will learn to love it; however, you can turn the mechanic off in the Study Settings screen. First, go to the Settings screen (found on the Home screen). Tap on “Study Settings.” Then uncheck “enable holdout.”

How much do you recommend playing?
We suggest playing 20 minutes a day for at least 20 days. This is the typical period that research studies use for n-back training. On each day, it is best to play until the program tells you to stop.

Do I have to stop when I’m told?
Play as much as you like. We recommend 20-minute playing periods; however, you can play more than that if that works well for you.

Why am I running out of fuel? Can I get unlimited fuel?
As you pilot your ship through the wormhole, your fuel will be constantly diminishing. You can collect fuel pods you don’t zap to replenish your fuel. Fly over as many fuel pods as you can so that you can power your ship. If you are still having trouble, you can enable unlimited fuel in the Study Settings menu. First, go to the Settings screen (found on the Home screen). Then, tap on “Study Settings.” Then uncheck “enable unlimited fuel.”

I have trouble moving the ship around the tunnel, is there a way to make this easier?
Yes, we have easier navigation settings. First, go to the Settings screen (found on the Home screen). Then, tap on “Study Settings.” Then check “enable fixed navigation.”

What if I’m going too fast?
You can adjust your speed at the beginning of every level. Move the slider to the left to go slower or to the right to go faster.

Give it a try! Play Recall now: