Birdwatching game in Lumosity

by Anne
(Florida)

How can I improve my performance on Birdwatching? I have a terrible time finding the bird in the background and by the time I do find it, if I do, I have often forgotten the letter.

Doug's Reply. I can give you several tips based on my own experience with Lumosity's "Birdwatching" game. These tips work for me, but truthfully I still find the game to be difficult.

1) Place the target just below the center box where the letter appears. Keep your eye on the target at the moment the letter/bird images flash on the screen. With practice, your peripheral vision should pick up the location of the bird most of the time, while your central vision should see the letter.

2) Try to memorize the names of the birds over time. As you know, one way to increase your score at Birdwatching is to correctly guess the name of the bird based on only a few letters. Well, there are only a certain number of birds in the game. That means your guesses should get more accurate the more you play, as long as you take the time to commit the bird's name (and the correct spelling!) to memory.

3) Use your breathing to your advantage. Each time I'm ready to view another letter/bird, I first take a deep breath and hold it at the exact moment I click the Next button. Taking a breath can help focus your concentration.

4) Eliminate all distractions in your space. Don't play Birdwatching when others are nearby. Make sure to turn off the TV, radio, etc. You want your environment to be extremely quiet when you play Birdwatching - which is pretty much true for any brain game.

5) Make sure not to play Birdwatching on a monitor that has an extra-wide resolution. This might be the case if your computer monitor itself is wider than most monitors. The problem is that the Birdwatching game will display wider than normal which increases the amount of horizontal space that your peripheral vision must detect. (i.e., it makes the game harder).

I hope those tips help.

Best regards,
Douglas J.
Memory-Improvement-Tips.com