What the exercises measure

Each exercise is a timed task with a clear rule. Your score describes how you did on that task, on that day, at that difficulty.

Task-specific scores

A score in Brain Gym measures performance on one specific task. It is not an IQ score, a percentile against other people, a brain age, or a medical measure. Getting better at an exercise reliably means you got better at that exercise. Whether that carries over to unrelated everyday tasks is not something this app can measure, and the research on broad transfer from computerised training is mixed, so nothing here assumes it.

The six exercises

Reaction Control

Response inhibition

A go/no-go task. It asks you to keep a simple response ready over a long run of trials and then withhold it on a minority of trials. It measures how often you respond when you should not (commission errors) and how often you miss a target (omission errors).

Headline measure: Median reaction time (ms)

Colour Conflict

Selective attention

A Stroop task. Reading is close to automatic, so a mismatched colour word competes with naming the ink. The gap between mismatched and matched trials is the interference cost.

Headline measure: Interference cost (ms)

Memory Match

Working memory

An n-back task. It asks you to keep a short list updated as new items arrive, discarding the oldest. D-prime separates real sensitivity to matches from a habit of pressing Match often.

Headline measure: D-prime

Spatial Sequence

Visual-spatial memory

A Corsi-style block-tapping span task. It measures how many positions you can hold in order, and how accurately you place them, rather than how fast you respond.

Headline measure: Longest correct run

Rule Switch

Mental flexibility

A cued task-switching paradigm. Responses are reliably slower on the trial right after the rule changes. That gap, the switch cost, is the number this exercise tracks.

Headline measure: Switch cost (ms)

Number Sprint

Mental arithmetic

A timed arithmetic verification task. It measures how quickly and accurately you retrieve or compute number facts, which depends heavily on practice with the specific operations.

Headline measure: Correct per minute

What moves your score

Sleep and time of day
Caffeine, alcohol and medication
Stress, mood and motivation
Practice with the specific task
Screen size, input device and network lag
Interruptions during a set

A single low set is normal and rarely means anything. Read the trend across weeks on the progress page.

How scoring works

Each scored set produces accuracy, a speed score and a consistency score. Accuracy carries most of the weight, speed a small part, and consistency less again. If accuracy falls below 60% the speed contribution is removed, so answering fast and wrong never beats answering carefully. Spatial Sequence uses its own formula built around the longest sequence you recalled correctly.

Difficulty is a level from 1 to 20 held separately for each exercise. Everyone starts at level 3. After a scored set, high accuracy with reasonable speed moves it up, and a struggle moves it down by one. Practice runs never change it.

Not a medical device

This app is not a medical device. It does not diagnose, treat or prevent any condition, and it does not measure intelligence.

If you are worried about your memory, attention or thinking, speak to a doctor or a qualified professional. Nothing in this app can answer that question, and a low score here is not evidence of a problem.