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3DSDS

Brain Age: Concentration Training - Day 2: My Working Memory Is Unemployed

by Tyler Ohlew - February 4, 2013, 7:14 pm EST
Total comments: 1

Sympathy for the Devilish.

All right, I'm skipping ahead by showing you the end result of all my hard work, but getting rid of that awfully embarrassing 'F' t-shirt is a moment to share. Concentration Training doesn't determine the age of your brain as a means of motivation. Instead, it forces your Mii to don a shirt that proclaims your ineptitude. If grinding through Devilish Training to "level up" my attire is what I need to do, then I shall grind. Hard

Kicking off today's lessons, Dr. Kawashima lectured me on just what the goals of Concentration Training are. The teacher's pet I am, I had already researched his goals and shared them with you in my first entry. I was sure he wouldn't be pleased in wasting his time on information I already knew, so I asked him to hold off for now (these Brain Seminars of his are a regular occurrence, but you can always skip them to listen to later).

After the humiliation that I willingly made public, I wanted to slide my way back into the intelligent public's good graces once again. Taking things slow this time, I delved into the Supplemental Training on offer: Calculations x20.

Ah, yes. What a sight for sore eyes. It had been years since I last rapidly answered 20 equations. Had my brain rusted in that time? Well, perhaps not. I managed to pull it off in 28 seconds, and was awarded by having the speed of my brain likened to an automobile. Quite the step up for this 70-year-old brain.

As I rode on this automobile-fueled high, I jumped straight into some more Supplementary Training, this time of the Word Attack Variety. Here, words flash up on the screen. They remain on the top screen for only a moment, and I was required to correctly write out the word when it disappeared. Feeling like I performed quite snappily, I was disappointed by being compared to the speed of a walking person! I could settle for a light jog, but walking? Walking in Japan must be turbo boost-assisted, because I was blowing through these questions!

Feeling primed and ready, I set foot into the Thunderdome. First up, Devilish Pairs. The trend of these Devilish games is how laughably simple they all appear to me. In this case, flip some cards over, but don't make a single mistake or it's game over. I managed to get to level 6 here, which was composed of a four-by-four grid of face-down cards, doubling my ego on impact. Finally feeling accomplished, what better thing to do then knock myself down a few pegs?

How, you ask? Why through Devilish Mice, of course! Presented in the form of a three-by-four grid, a collection of mice and cats are displayed, then quickly hidden. It is your job to recall the position of the mice. Complicating matters (of course there's complications) is that cats can come from the sides, pushing the cats and mice within the grid along with it. It got to be quite the nightmare, and I capped off at 3-Mouse. You start off at only needing to keep track of two, so I didn't have much to be proud of. 

The hardships were worth it, though. I made my way to an E grading for my overall progression, and called it a day.

What trials does tomorrow hold? Tune in to find out!

Talkback

KikoriMinoru Yamaizumi, Japan CorrespondentFebruary 05, 2013

Yeah, I heard Osaka and Tokyo are the top 2 cities in terms of the pedestrians walking speed!

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