# Does anyone here use Lumosity?



## SpectrumOfThought (Mar 29, 2013)

For those of you who don't know, it is an app that claims to boost your cognitive skills by "scientifically designed training." It has around 50 million members, so I thought some of you might be using it.

I've been a member for 3-4 months, although I've not used it since a month or so. What you really do is that you play 5 "games" each day for practice, each belonging to some category (attention, memory, flexibility, problem solving, and speed).

Do you use it? If yes, has it improved your cognition, and to what extent?

Link: Brain Games & Brain Training - Lumosity


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## an absurd man (Jul 22, 2012)

I've used it for a few months last year. It was fun until it became more of a chore.



> If yes, has it improved your cognition, and to what extent?


I have no idea.


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## iemanja (Feb 5, 2012)

I've seen that thing everywhere, and I'm curious to know the same.
Wouldn't just doing some maths questions/generic memory games or something improve cognition? :s


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## Sharkee (Dec 30, 2012)

Please don't spend any money on that unless you enjoy the games or you have seen it actually help someone. I haven't done much research on it but I don't think it does as much for your brain as they claim it does.
Otherwise it's still pretty fun to use.


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## XO Skeleton (Jan 18, 2011)

I played it the other day on my friend's iphone. I shattered all of his high scores.


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## Jetsune Lobos (Apr 23, 2012)

SpectrumOfThought said:


> For those of you who don't know, it is an app that claims to boost your cognitive skills by "scientifically designed training." It has around 50 million members, so I thought some of you might be using it.
> 
> I've been a member for 3-4 months, although I've not used it since a month or so. What you really do is that you play 5 "games" each day for practice, each belonging to some category (attention, memory, flexibility, problem solving, and speed).
> 
> ...


I mosied around on it for a while until I repeatedly came across discussions/articles online that said while Lumosity in itself may not be a scam - it's fairly fruitless as a whole as there's no data supporting its claims outside of spacial memory (which can easily be improved without subscribing to anything).

> Reddit:


> There was already a thread in r/askscience about this and the consensus seemed to be that they don't really do much. I'll look for it.Also saying it's "based on the science of neuroplasticity" is ridiculous. All learning is based on neuroplasticity. That's kind of like saying all breathing is based on respiration. You can throw "neuro" in front of anything to make it into a trendy buzzword that people will gobble up.


...



XO Skeleton said:


> I played it the other day on my friend's iphone. I shattered all of his high scores.


"Wow dude, I'm just like you! Only better."


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## idkwatimdoing (Dec 15, 2013)

I did use it for about a month, my scores went up and by the time I got bored my problem solving was like 95th percentile and overall was 90th. I don't really think It did anything for my brain besides just making me better at the games though and maybe a bit of an ego boost. Also I found the system way to easy to manipulate to really take the scores seriously.


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## Tea Path (Sep 5, 2012)

did it, got bored. work is challenging enough.


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## jeremiahpuppybeast (Oct 6, 2011)

I do it to take a break from the monotony of my job, most days. I find it helps to reset my brain a little, but no indication of improved cognition that I can tell. I've done it for over a year.


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## Tzara (Dec 21, 2013)

SpectrumOfThought said:


> For those of you who don't know, it is an app that claims to boost your cognitive skills by "scientifically designed training." It has around 50 million members, so I thought some of you might be using it.
> 
> I've been a member for 3-4 months, although I've not used it since a month or so. What you really do is that you play 5 "games" each day for practice, each belonging to some category (attention, memory, flexibility, problem solving, and speed).
> 
> ...


Its fun if you like games like that buy it does not provide a major improvement. 
If you do really want to improve mentally try something else. (Lots of other actually good methods are out there)


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## Randomasd (Aug 29, 2013)

The games are fun, but get boring after some time. If it does improve your brain it's probably more through a placebo effect than anything else.


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## Neolux (Oct 18, 2013)

Hm... looks interesting.

I'm not sure if it'll do anything major, but i'll give it a try.


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## aphinion (Apr 30, 2013)

I tried it for a few days then kind of crapped out and haven't touched it since. I didn't find any part of it especially difficult, or entertaining.


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## purplegoon (May 2, 2013)

I just read to exercise my brain.


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## Aengen (Jan 26, 2014)

Although I don't rely on it for so-called neural improvement, I do like playing the games to wake my brain up. In that sense I've noticed a change -- whenever I play the games I tend to become more alert.. but various actions can also inflict the same response, so. Definitely not worth paying for any extra features, but fun for a little while.


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## Bahburah (Jul 25, 2013)

I tried it and saw it as more of a chore than "fun games". 
If I play an RPG for an hour I notice an improvement in the sharpness of my mind.

While I'm sure I would be sharper after an hour of Lumosity, it's just no fun.

Also the commercials piss me off because you can clearly see that there target audience is people who are dumb who want to be brought to a level of average intelligence.

Too me thats like them saying that theres a limit to there program and that you will see improvement if improvement is really needed.


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## chimeric (Oct 15, 2011)

Anyone done this deal?

Brain Workshop - a Dual N-Back game


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