How it works & why

Each pillar is a one-minute consumer task based on an established cognitive paradigm. The numbers are plain readings of your performance on that specific task.

Signal measures reaction time and response restraint, like a go/no-go task. The reading is your median reaction time, in milliseconds.

Recall measures visuospatial short-term memory span, like a pattern-span task. The reading is the longest pattern you can reliably reproduce.

Filter measures attention under distraction, like a flanker interference task. The reading is the extra time distraction costs you, in milliseconds.

Switch measures cognitive flexibility, like a task-switching paradigm. The reading is the time cost of switching between rules.

Pathways measures pattern reasoning and problem-solving. The reading is a points score.

Comparing you with strangers tells you where you rank. Comparing you with yourself tells you what changed. Over your first ten reading days, the app learns your usual range. After that, every score is read against your own history. The games are the same each time, so when a number moves, it is more likely to mean you changed than the task changed.

That scores climb on a practiced task is one of the most replicated findings in cognitive science. The largest study is the NIH-funded ACTIVE trial: 2,832 adults, randomized to practice memory, reasoning, or speed-of-processing tasks over ten sessions. Scores on the practiced tasks rose, and long-term follow-ups found those task scores stayed higher years afterward (Rebok et al., Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2014).

These are studies of cognitive tasks in general — not studies of this app. We cite them for one reason: when your scores climb with practice, that is a real and well-documented pattern, not a quirk of our scoring.

Foggy, Slow, Steady, Quick, and Sharp are plain-language labels for where today's reading sits within your own usual range.

Foggy means today's reading sits clearly below your usual range. Slow means it sits below your usual range. Steady means it sits inside your usual range. Quick means it sits above your usual range. Sharp means it sits clearly above your usual range.

A single day is just one reading; the useful pattern is what happens across weeks.

No leaderboards, no comparing you with strangers, no age scores. No diagnosis, no medical claims, no medical advice. Observations describe when things happened together in your record — they never claim that one thing made another happen. Your custom metrics are private by default. The Coach only ever sees a metric you've explicitly chosen to share. The names of things you log privately are never sent to it. We do not sell your data or show ads. Daily readings are noisy; one day means little, and the value is in patterns across weeks.

Your readings and check-ins exist to be shown back to you. Your custom metrics are private by default. The Coach only ever sees a metric you've explicitly chosen to share. You can export your data as a CSV file and delete your account and all its data from the Account page at any time.

The app was built from a personal need to see the relationships between brain skills, practicing those skills, and lifestyle markers. The founder note on the home page tells that story.