Brain Workshop is an open source game, written by Paul Hoskinson under GPL license, that tests our concentration level and ability to focus, when performing two or more activities at the same time.
Brain Workshop is based on a mental exercise called Dual N-Back, which has been scientifically tested and proved as having a real impact on short term memory and even on fluid intelligence. The method used by this test consists in recalling a sequence of sounds and the position of a series of squares in the screen. Basically, what one has to do is press a letter if the sound is repeated, and press another if the square appears in the same position twice. The test includes two game modes that can be used even by children due to its simplicity, and several challenges apart from Dual N-Back, among them Triple N-Back, Dual Combination N-Back, Arithmetic N-Back, which include numbers, and more challenging exercises. On the other hand, the application can track your progress and store statistics of your games. By editing the config.ini file in the data folder, one can configure the game according to our preferences; this is particularly useful when the game is used by more than one person in a single computer.
Once you get used to the game dynamics, you will see that it is really demanding and worth playing. However, at first it may turn out rather complicated, but there is a really helpful tutorial that can assist you in the first steps with Brain Workshop.
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