Sus's dashboard

Hi Travis
In addition to allowing more control over volume, I’d like to see (as described in detail in my post above) the option of turning off “multiple dings”

I’d like a choice of ding sounds. I wouldn’t really care about being able to using my very own sound (though maybe if I tried I’d like it) but maybe offer 5 choices or so. I ‘m sure there could be alternate dings that are just as clear as the current ding, but sound prettier to my ears. I’m thinking a musical instrument (triangle? harp?) would be the place to look for various single, pretty-sounding notes. Oh and for the harp, say, if you had the “multiple dings” option turned on, you’d get a beautiful, drawn out chord.

In terms of the animations, it seems to me there might be a few preferences you could ask users about, in order to filter out animations they are likely to find boring or aversive. One relevant preference might be whether the person likes or dislikes “slapstick” kind of humor. One of the first themes I tried was “pets,” and one of the first animations, if I’m remembering it clearly, involved a prairie dog popping out of a hole, and a dog bashing him on the head so hard he saw stars. To me that seems violent and aversive. Subsequent ones weren’t so violent but frequently a character in the animations ends up frustrated, flustered or discouraged, and those tend to bring me down rather than amuse me.

Or instead of offering preferences in the form of options for the user to check, maybe you could have the user express preferences by offering a wide variety of animations in the very beginning (during calibration and/or the first day’s exercises) and having the user indicate after each one how they liked it.

Or maybe at the very end of the first few days’ exercises, somewhere in the results screen, there could be a button saying “Tailor the next sessions’ animations to your preferences!” and it takes you to a screen which shows you thumbnails of all the animations you’ve seen so far (which you can click on to view a short clip of again, in case you forgot what they were like), and you get to drag them around from most preferred to least preferred. And then the program behind the scenes is calculating which other animations you’re likely to enjoy, and is ready to offer those (and avoid ones you’re likely to hate) during you subsequent sessions.

I do like it that the program offers themes and animations; I don’t think I’d like to have to supply my own, because that wouldn’t have the element of novelty.

Speaking of novelty, I really like the colors theme (some of the color combinations I find beautiful) but the progression of colored squares top to bottom, left to right, seems so (unnecessarily) predictable. Why not shake things up a bit by having them sometimes appear in a different order -- or perhaps build in alternately from both sides, gradually closing the gap in the middle. Also, other shapes besides squares would be nice. For example, consider something like a child’s set of mosaic or parquetry tiles (you know the kind with triangle, diamond, and square-shaped tiles of all different colors, and all the different, beautiful designs you can make with those). Buy a set and play with them and maybe you’ll be inspired.

Oh yes, one other idea I had, which I just remembered. How about have a songbirds theme, with animations featuring our local songbirds, with songs and calls that are accurate for that particular bird. (Being tuned in to sounds, we might even learn to recognize their songs while we think we’re just enjoying the animations!). And since “local” songbirds depends on where you live, you could sell several add-on packs “Birds of the western states,” “Birds of the mid-atlantic states,” etc. I like the idea of birds because they seem cheery and free and they have beautiful songs. Maybe you could even give people the option of choosing from an assortment of one-note bird call s, in place of a day’s dings.

Susanna – Sus, on October 11, 2009 14:30

In case it's useful to know my set-up (because unlike jimmymio's, mine _is_ retaining the volumes I've set) I'm using 10.4.11, on an intel mac. I have the Sennheiser headphones, not Koss. – Sus, on October 05, 2009 14:11

I n various exercises (not just Match it) there are short burst of dings on occasion, in the middle of the exercise -- and to me they have no more meaning than a single ding (telling me I got that one answer right). That’s what I’m focused on -- the one answer and whether it was right or wrong; it’s relevant information. Anything past one ding is extraneous, because I am not interested in points or whatever it is that all those dings mean. (I do know that they must have some specific meaning, and that it’s supposed to mean something good.)

In the manual it describes how much variety there is in the way people attend to and value the different kinds of feedback and rewards offered by the program. I guess that the difference with sound is that it’s a little more intrusive than the others; I can tune out the points, and even the reward window when I’m really concentrating (Actually, i sometimes like the reward window, but I also sometimes tune it out without even trying). I can’t tune out the sound, though -- and actually don’t want to because I need to hear that _one_ ding immediately after I’ve clicked on my response, to know if it’s correct. In Match it, the only dings I care about are the ones that signal a match (and I care quite a lot about those!). That whole flurry of them at the end is just telling me what I already knew (that I did well -- lots and lots of clicks leftover). Like Ricky said, it’s like being hit over the head with it. :-)

Another approach (if you plan to make a change in the program) is not just to allow the dings to be made quieter, but to offer the option “Do you want to hear multiple dings each time you’ve accumulated XX points (or go up a level, or whatever)?” and “Do you want to hear lots and lots of dings when you finish match it with lots of clicks to spare?” That would respect the different ways that you already know people respond to such things.

I’m interested in hearing the perspective of someone that _likes_ the multiple dings that occur in the middle of exercises or at the end of match it. Or someone that keeps track of their points and finds it worthwhile. I’d like to understand it because I know it’s true that people’s preferences differ that much, and it’s always interesting to hear the perspective.

I use a mac too, and I'm not sure about this but I _think_ that once you set it in a particular exercise, it stays that way and will be set that way each time you open the program. But the _other_ exercises won't be set that way unless you do it in each one. (I guess that's because people might have different preferences for different exercises.) Anyway, in my limited experience the sound settings I've made for individual exercises have stuck. – Sus, on October 05, 2009 01:43

Thanks for that suggestion. I had actually done that at one point (maximized the excercise and minimize the other) but hadn't realized it needed to be done anew in each exercise. So now I do have it at the minimum. Still not as quiet as I'd like, but better. Thanks. – Sus, on October 05, 2009 01:37

Thanks for the response, Arielle! – Sus, on October 03, 2009 16:35

Errr...I just realized my mistake. Rebooting had nothing to do with the improvement this morning. And actually, the problem is _not_ solved. This morning it turns out I had accidentally plugged my headphones into the wrong port, so no sound was coming _through_ them, and what I was hearing was the sound from the computer's speaker, reaching me from _outside_ the headphones. So that's why the ding was so nicely muffled (and that also probably explains why I did really badly on "Tell Us Apart" today!)

I still have "Match It" left to do today. Now that I've switched the headphones to the correct port, I know I'll be getting the clearest possible exercise sounds, at least. I think that each time I finish a grid -- which is when I get the long long series of dings -- I'll just snatch the earphones off, or try pressing the mute button on the keyboard.

So, yes, this still will be an issue for me; the dings (even the single ones) were so much better when I was hearing them from outside the padding of my headphones. It would be nice if they could be that faint all the time, without compromising the clarity of the exercises. So I'm glad this thread is now an "Idea" because I really would like that option of turning it low. I know the ding is important as an immediate mark of success, so I see why you don't want to let people turn it so low they can't hear it. (My just-right volume might be someone else's inaudible volume). So maybe you could have people do a test before letting them go very low -- some excercise to verify the ding is audible before they're allowed to choose that low setting.

Well...never mind about what I wrote yesterday. I started up the Brain Fitness program this morning, and it seems that the volume adjustments I made yesterday were not actually having their intended effect yesterday. It must have required quitting and relaunching the program. The dings are ever-so-faint now. Just right. – Sus, on October 03, 2009 13:00

It would be really nice if the All Other Sounds setting would at least let the other sounds get quieter (even if not mute). Maybe when you do an update, you could let that setting go a couple notches quieter?

I especially would like the ding to be quieter. I don't mind the single dings so much because they're over so quickly—but when I do well on something, like I have been on the matching exercise, the ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding that I keep getting afterwards is really bothersome, like someone holding a glass and rapping a knife against it repeatedly, right next to my ear—unmelodic and insistent—while I cringe and wait for it to be over.

In truth, it isn't exactly LOUD (not really loud at all, because I have the overall volume set to be quite quiet, and the All Other Sounds slider as low as it goes—so it doesn't actually _hurt_ my ears, just sort of confronts and offends them.)

I didn't mean my first post here to be negative; I'm only on my third day and mostly excited and enjoying the program a lot.

Sus