Hi HN, I work with a mixed group of developers, data scientists and neuroscientists, and for fun recently built a tool inspired by psychological studies. The idea is to demonstrate how quickly technology can change how your brain works, and potentially the impact that technology actually has over our agency without us even noticing.
> Whoa, backwards training actually made your reaction time faster by 0.28 seconds!<p>Interesting result. I think I may have subconsciously primed myself for a better performance as the prompt told me that it was about to go back to "normal".<p>I suspect I'd be a lot worse if it switched me without warning.
Cursor disappeared and I had to find a way to quit Chrome without it. Very frustrating.<p>Re: rewiring the brain - these exercises feel like functional neurology exercises, were they inspired by those? "Neuroplasticity" is just a fancy term for learning, really, and if you dig deep enough there are some niche communities online that (at least claim to) use it to heal themselves from various chronic illnesses. Very anecdotal, but lots of anecdotes.<p>I've always thought people in the "tools for thought" domain should explore this.
Pretty amazing how quickly my brain just started thinking of the cursor going in the opposite direction. By the 5-7th trial, my hand and brain were pretty in sync. Then going back to the normal movement I was 0.41 seconds slower.
Can someone rewire my brain to be hyper-efficient when clicking through articles on HN and dreadfully-inefficient if my mind wanders to fantasy sports?
did this twice -- didn't notice much effect the first time (measurable effect was tiny). When I did it again, I was distracted a bit (mind wandering) and sure enough, when I switched back to the "normal" control, my performance was destroyed. Surprisingly effective.