Auditory Ace

Many problem-solving tasks require us to have the ability to hold auditory information in our working memory while at the same time working with that information. Consider your participation in a meeting at work – you need to remember what is being said while also manipulating that information so that you can arrive at important decisions. Another scenario would be when you are driving and need to stop and ask for direction, you’ll have to store the information of where to turn and what landmarks to look out for, while also matching the directions to relevant street names and markers.

 

During the Auditory Ace exercise, auditory information about playing cards will be presented to you one playing card at a time. Your objective is to determine if the current playing card details match the card information that was presented to you a certain number of steps back. Initially, for example, you’ll be asked to decide if the current playing card details match the card that was presented just prior. As you progress through the levels you’ll need to decide if the current playing card details match the details of a card presented earlier in the sequence.

 

As you move through the Auditory Ace exercise, it will grow increasingly more difficult in a variety of ways:

  1. The number of items to remember in the sequence increases.
  2. The information to remember for each item changes (suit, number, both).

Ultimately, the Auditory Ace exercise will challenge your ability to retain, compare, and work with an increasing amount of auditory information.