lumosity problem solving

Games designed to train your brain

Explore our cognitive games and exercises., discover the full suite of training areas, speed games.

Highway Hazards

In Highway Hazards, you quickly dodge obstacles in a race through the desert — t...

River Ranger

In River Ranger, you must quickly spot animals in a river, and remember which an...

In this game, you fit the last item into an already filled suitcase. That means ...

Speed Match

A fast-paced game, Speed Match exercises your brain’s ability to process informa...

Memory Games

Memory Serves

Exercise your memory by delivering bags to hotel guests. As a bellhop, you’ll ne...

Tidal Treasures

Keep choosing unique ocean treasures from a tide pool as more and more items was...

Memory Matrix

In Memory Matrix, you quickly memorize a group of tiles on a grid. That means re...

Pinball Recall

In Pinball Recall, you must memorize the locations of several bumpers before the...

Attention Games

Trouble Brewing

In this game, your task is to fill multiple coffee orders at once. The more orde...

Assist Ants

Train your divided attention skills by preventing ant collisions.

Lost in Migration

Lost in Migration exercises your attention abilities by asking you to identify w...

Train of Thought

Your task is to guide an increasing number of trains to their stations. You must...

Flexibility Games

Disillusion

In this game, you quickly match tiles according to rules that keep changing.

Ebb and Flow

Shift your focus between two details: where the leaves point and how they move.

Brain Shift

In this game, you will switch between two rules depending on whether the letter-...

Color Match

Color Match is a Flexibility game that challenges the particular skill Response ...

Problem Solving Games

Pirate Passage

Exercise your planning skills by finding the route to buried treasure.

Masterpiece

Exercise your spatial reasoning by fitting pieces of a mosaic together.

Organic Order

Exercise your logical reasoning by planting seeds in the right order.

Pet Detective

In Pet Detective, you must rescue all the lost pets, which means using your plan...

Word Bubbles

In Word Bubbles, you write words that start with the same starting letters. This...

Exercise your vocabulary and reading comprehension by replacing incorrectly used...

Word Snatchers

Exercise your vocabulary by unscrambling the word.

Exercise your vocabulary by ordering words according to meaning.

Pick the most expensive prizes to exercise your quick estimation skills.

Magic Chance

Exercise your probabilistic reasoning by matching the pattern of cards needed fo...

Chalkboard Challenge

Chalkboard Challenge trains quantitative reasoning to help with decision-making....

Raindrops exercises arithmetic, which is part of your set of problem-solving ski...

14 years, 100 million members

4.7 rating on iOS App Store

"I am surprised and delighted by your games. I appreciate the variety and multiplicity of games and the feeling of personalization. The daily workouts are welcome, more fun than push ups, and they make my day go even better."

Mary , New Jersey

"I really like this app. Lots of great games and it comes with tutorials that help you understand the game. I love the Insights I receive every time I train. It's also nice that I get to choose what to play."

Rashmi , California

Lumosity: Brain Training 4+

Play. learn. improve‪.‬, lumos labs, inc..

• #177 in Education
• 4.7 • 110.4K Ratings
• Offers In-App Purchases

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Description.

Exercise your memory, reasoning, and more with the world’s most popular brain training program. Lumosity’s cognitive training program is a fun, interactive way to train your brain and learn about how your mind works. Used by over 100 million people worldwide, Lumosity’s program consists of games designed to exercise memory, speed, flexibility and problem-solving. Begin with a free 10-minute Fit Test to set your baseline scores and see how you compare with others your age. THE APP INCLUDES •40+ activities ...and counting. •Challenges for memory, speed, logic, problem-solving, math, language, and more. WORKOUT MODES •Carefully curated sets of games made for you. •Personalized challenges based on your training habits and preferences. DETAILED TRAINING INSIGHTS •Information about your game strengths and weaknesses as you progress through your training. •Analysis of your game play to help understand your cognitive patterns. THE STORY BEHIND LUMOSITY® We’re a team of scientists and designers exploring new ways to challenge the brain and advance cognitive research. We take common cognitive and neuropsychological tasks, or create entirely new, experimental challenges. Then, working with experienced designers, we transform these tasks into games and puzzles that challenge core cognitive skills. We also work with 40+ university researchers worldwide. We give qualified researchers free access to Lumosity training and tools, helping them investigate new areas in the cognitive sciences. We invite you to train with us and join in our mission to advance the understanding of human cognition. The app is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Japanese and Korean. To access the app in one of these languages, change your device setting to the desired language. GET HELP: http://www.lumosity.com/help FOLLOW US: http://twitter.com/lumosity LIKE US: http://facebook.com/lumosity LUMOSITY PREMIUM PRICING & TERMS With Lumosity Premium, you will work out with a personalized training program, unlock in-depth insights about how you play, and receive tips for better game accuracy, speed and strategy. We offer the following Premium subscriptions: Monthly: $11.99 USD/month Yearly: $59.99 USD/year These prices are for United States customers. Pricing in other countries may vary, and actual charges may be converted to your local currency depending on your country of residence. Lumosity Premium subscriptions are charged through your iTunes account upon confirmation of purchase. Your subscription will automatically renew at the price and period selected above unless you turn off auto-renewal at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You may manage your subscription and turn off auto-renewal in your iTunes account settings after purchase. Refunds are not provided for the unused portion of any term, and any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when a purchase is made. Privacy Policy: https://www.lumosity.com/legal/privacy_policy Terms of Service: https://www.lumosity.com/legal/terms_of_service Payment Policy: https://www.lumosity.com/legal/payment_policy California Privacy Policy: https://www.lumosity.com/en/legal/privacy_policy/#what-information-we-collect

Version 9.90.5

This release includes bug fixes and performance improvements.

Ratings and Reviews

110.4K Ratings

Editors’ Notes

Sharpen problem-solving skills in a few minutes each day with Lumosity’s personalised challenges. They adapt to keep you challenged as you strengthen key abilities, helping you stay motivated for the long run.

The Train Game Haunts Me

When I first opened the app, I was prompted to play the train game. It was slightly challenging the first several levels, but I rather enjoyed the test of my attention span. After the first two days, I got stuck on a levels 10-11 and out of frustration I deleted the app knowing I wouldn’t pay for the subscription. I settled for leaving the game at that level. However, the next day I found myself bored and wondered if perhaps I could surpass to the next level. My trial was not over so I redownloaded the app and was able to get to level 12. Then suddenly I was back where I started, but just one level higher. I convinced myself to just be rid of the taunting app as I began to believe I would need to be engineered like a computer to beat level 12. When I was bored once more the next day, I did it all over again: redownloaded, moved up a level, could not beat the newest level, the. deleted the app. Today was the third time I did this obsessive dance within the last week. I have been stuck on level 13 out of 14 for the last two days and my trial is up. I refuse to pay for the subscription as I wholly believe I am addicted to this dreadful train game. I must walk away, or else it will consume my every waking moment. Good bye train game. Oh, how I wish I made it to the very end but alas I am only a human and cannot operate like a computer. *weeps loudly

Exactly what I was looking for!

I work in a warehouse where attention to detail and undistractability (real word?) are crucial. This is the first app I’ve ever seen where they test more than vocabulary. There is a little of that, as well as math skills but my focus was the focus, the quick thinking, and the memory games. I play other Apps like Elevate for their language and math skills. This App was so perfect for me they it made me cry. I’ve been so frustrated with searching ways to improve my attention to detail (without just doing matching pieces or item search games) and accuracy under pressure and at speed. Nothing I’ve searched for even comes close to this, whether it was an app or a website. Everything I found was all “for the group in the work place” like a team building exercise or boss-to-employee motivational speech. Sorry I really have to shout here: THIS GAME FINALLY ANSWERED THE QUESTION OF HOW TO FIX MY BRAIN! I don’t know if the free version will really do it for some people but for me the paid version is well worth the price. I’m not sure I’ll do more than a year but you never know.

App Privacy

The developer, Lumos Labs, Inc. , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

Data Linked to You

The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:

• Contact Info
• User Content
• Browsing History
• Identifiers
• Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Information

English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish

• Lumosity Premium $11.99
• Lumosity Premium $59.99
• Lumosity Premium $38.99
• Lumosity Premium $47.99
• One Month Subscription $14.99
• Lumosity Premium $35.99
• Developer Website
• App Support
• Privacy Policy

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Shining the Light of Research on Lumosity

• Original Article
• Published: 03 October 2017
• Volume 2 , pages 43–62, ( 2018 )

Cite this article

• Katie Bainbridge 1 &
• Richard E. Mayer 1  

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Lumosity is a subscription-based suite of online brain-training games, intended to improve cognitive skills. Due to an influx of products designed to train cognition through games such as Lumosity, it is important to determine their effectiveness for the sake of consumers and for the potential implications of any training effects for theories of transfer of cognitive skills. Two training experiments were conducted using the Lumosity platform. Participants were divided into three groups: those who trained with five attention games in Lumosity (attention group), those who trained with five flexibility games in Lumosity (flexibility group), and an inactive control group. Participants were assessed on accuracy and response time for two cognitive tests of attention (useful field of view and change detection) and two cognitive tests of flexibility (Wisconsin card sort and Stroop) both before and after a training period. In experiment 1, the training period was 3 h spread over four sessions. In experiment 2, the training period was 15 to 20 h spread over an average of 73 sessions. The trained groups did not show significantly greater pretest-to-posttest gains than the control group on any measures in either experiment, except in experiment 2 where the flexibility group significantly outperformed the other two groups on Stroop response time and UFOV reaction time. A practical implication concerns the lack of strong evidence for the effectiveness of brain-training games to improve cognitive skills. A theoretical implication concerns the domain specificity of cognitive skill learning from brain training games.

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This project was supported by grant N000141612046 from the Office of Naval Research.

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Bainbridge, K., Mayer, R.E. Shining the Light of Research on Lumosity. J Cogn Enhanc 2 , 43–62 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-017-0040-5

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Brain App Showdown: Lumosity Vs Elevate – Which is Better?

Want the best brain workout from an app? Join me as I look at Lumosity and Elevate, the top brain-training apps.

If you’re a student or a worker, this comparison between Lumosity and Elevate will help guide you to the right choice.

Let’s get started with the comparison. But first, let’s begin with their overview, features, and pricing plan –

Lumosity Overview

Lumosity is made by Lumos Labs, a group focused on making tools to train the brain. Their mission is to help people keep their minds in top shape. The core idea of Lumosity is using games to train your brain.

• Lumosity offers many mental training games that challenge different parts of your brain.
• The app gives you daily workouts that are custom-made to your needs.
• Lumosity lets you keep track of your progress so you can see how you’re doing.

Lumosity Pricing Plan

Lumosity offers a basic free version. For more features, you can subscribe to Lumosity Premium. The prices change, but the cost is usually around $12 a month or $60 a year.

Elevate Overview

Elevate is made by a company called Elevate Labs. Their goal is to make brain training fun and effective. Elevate aims to build tools to help people boost their mental skills. The main idea of Elevate is to offer short but powerful training sessions tailored to your goals.

• Elevate provides a variety of exercises that focus on different mental skills.
• The app adapts to you, meaning your training program changes based on your progress and goals.
• Like Lumosity, Elevate also provides a way to track your progress.

Pricing Plan

Elevate offers a free version with limited access. To unlock all features, users can subscribe to Elevate Pro. The prices may vary, but it’s usually about $5 a month or $40 a year.

Lumosity Vs Elevate: Interface and Design

• Lumosity presents a smooth, easy-to-navigate, intuitive interface with colorful game icons and straightforward menus.
• The layout is light and friendly, encouraging fun while learning.
• The visual design is a bit playful, using bright colors and animations, which may appeal to users who prefer a more relaxed, game-like experience.
• Progress tracking is visually presented in an easy-to-understand format.
• Elevate offers a sleek, modern interface with a more corporate feel.
• The design heavily uses flat colors with a minimalistic approach. This clean, uncluttered layout might appeal to users who prefer professional looks.
• Despite its professional aesthetics, the app maintains a user-friendly experience with intuitive navigation features.
• Progress reports are comprehensive, and the emphasis on graphs and data may appeal to users who prefer detailed analytics.

Winner – Tie

Lumosity Vs Elevate: Variety of Training

Both Lumosity and Elevate offer a range of exercises designed to challenge your brain and enhance various cognitive skills. They vary, however, in terms of the types of training and games they offer.

Lumosity’s Variety of Training

Lumosity adapts its training program based on your initial assessment results. This brain-training app provides a broad selection of games divided into different categories: speed, memory, attention, problem-solving, and flexibility. Each game is designed to target specific cognitive functions, and the app tends to shape daily exercises based on the player’s performance.

Elevate’s Variety of Training

Elevate, on the other hand, emphasizes exercises related to writing, reading, listening, speaking, and math. These exercises strive to boost productivity and self-confidence in communication.

Winner – LUMOSITY

Lumosity Vs Elevate: Personalization Aspect

Lumosity’s personalization aspect.

Lumosity adapts its training program based on your initial assessment results. This ensures the exercises are tailored to your cognitive strengths and weaknesses, offering a truly personalized training experience.

Elevate’s Personalization Aspect

When users open the Elevate app, they are prompted to complete an initial two-minute skills assessment, including tasks testing grammar, vocabulary, and math skills. The app uses the results of this assessment to customize the user’s training program.

Winner – TIE

Lumosity Vs Elevate: Effectiveness

Effectiveness of lumosity.

Lumosity offers various games and exercises targeting different brain parts, such as memory, attention, flexibility, problem-solving, and speed.

Effectiveness of Elevate

Elevate boosts practical skills like grammar, writing, listening, and math. In research, Elevate users tested 69% better than nonusers in these practical skill areas .

Winner – ELEVATE

How to Decide Between Lumosity and Elevate?

In deciding between Lumosity and Elevate, various factors, such as your age, goals, budget, and lifestyle, could influence your choices.

Both apps are suitable for adults of all ages. However, older adults might find Lumosity helpful due to its broader variety of cognitive training that covers memory, attention, and problem-solving.

In contrast, younger adults, such as students, could favor Elevate because its training focuses more on practical skills like reading, writing, and math.

Lumosity, with its wide range of brain games, might be the better choice if you aim to improve overall cognitive function. If your goal is to enhance practical skills such as language and numeracy, Elevate could serve your needs better.

Lumosity and Elevate offer free versions, but access to their full training materials requires a premium subscription.

It would be best to compare prices and decide what fits your budget. Also, you could consider each app’s potential benefits to evaluate if the investment is worthwhile.

4. Lifestyle

If you have a busy schedule and need shorter, regular training sessions to slot into your day, Lumosity’s shorter, quick-play games could be more convenient.

On the other hand, if you can dedicate longer uninterrupted periods for intensive brain training, Elevate’s longer and more in-depth exercises might align better with your lifestyle.

5. Preferences

Lastly, your preference regarding app design, user interface, and the exercises you enjoy should also be considered. You could try out the free versions of both apps and see which one you find more engaging and enjoyable.

Final Verdict

When choosing between Lumosity and Elevate, your focus matters. If you want to improve in certain areas like reading and writing, Elevate beats Lumosity.

Elevate clearly aims at practical skills and is more effective for everyday tasks. Even though Lumosity offers a good range of brain exercises, Elevate stands out due to its skill-focused approach. Try them out and see why Elevate takes the top spot in this Lumosity Vs Elevate comparison.

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15 Interactive Brain Games for Kids

I n today's time, kids and parents actively play and explore online games. Mobile phones and laptops have created a tech-friendly play environment for children. But does it help with a child's brain development?

*Post contains affiliate links. Full disclosure can be viewed here .

Brain development in children   begins right from birth. According to Neuroscience, early childhood is the most remarkable time for a kid's brain development. The early years are critical for the foundation of the child's brain to learn, think, and develop. It is influenced by factors like a child's surroundings, experiences, and relationships. Families play an important role in the brain development of children . Therefore, parents are encouraged to play fun brain games with kids to enhance the process of a kid's brain development at an early age. 

Brain games are important for the kids as it stimulates the brain system to solve a problem. 

Here's how mind games help with brain development in children:

• Analytical Thinking
• Comprehension
• Spatial Awareness
• Lateral and Critical Thinking
• Problem-Solving
• Linguistic Enhancement
• Decision Making
• Conceptual Learning

All these factors shape the brain and create positive learning for a child. 

The most exciting part about playing these games with kids is that they will never say "NO" to games! 

Here is a list of some interesting brain development games for children to play: 

Brain Games for Healthy Development in Early Childhood

Children love to play with colors and shapes. Playing with blocks is easy for kids. Pick a block, let the child explore the color, shape, and form something from their imagination.

Scavenger Hunt Games

It's an easy, interactive, and inexpensive game for kids in which parents can list down a few things and ask kids to search for them. 

Playing puzzles with kids helps in spatial reasoning as they take pieces to complete a particular chosen picture/image. Unique games like Doodle Heist are also a great choice.

Obstacle Courses

The obstacle course is a game for kids to think creatively and cross the obstacles. Kids learn to think critically, solve problems, plan and coordinate. Create an obstacle for kids by placing series of things in your living room and let the kid play it creatively.

Role-Playing Games

Playing role play games help kids enhance their communication skills. Parents can pick a character from any book, discuss the dialogues, and then kids can play the assigned role. 

Improvisation Games        

Improv is an easy and fun-filled game. It improves kids' confidence, brainstorming ability, decision-making skills, and learning skills. 

Storytelling

Storytelling is a great way for kids to learn something new, be attentive, stay focused, and improve vocabulary. With storytelling, kids learn to remember the characters, set event sequences, and get curious to know what will come next. Kids can connect dots and create meaning. 

Phonics Games

Kids and parents can play phonics games anywhere! It helps the kids in improvising their decision-making skills and build confidence. 

Memory Games  

Memory games are highly recommended for a kid's brain development. It helps the kid focus better, improve attention and concentration level, work on visual memory and boost cognitive functionality. 

Math games are simple math skills-based games like number counting, greater than/lesser than, addition/subtraction to improve kids' numeracy skills. 

Lumosity is a science-based, fun-filled game in which you can give your kid a series of about 60 tasks to do to test their memory skill, type of reaction, attention, and problem-solving skills.

Maze is a game that kids can play wherever they like. With their eye coordination and problem-solving abilities, kids find the exit to the path. 

Board Games

Board games essentially help kids to socialize and communicate better. Parents can play games like Monopoly , Othello , and Snake ‘n' Ladders with kids.

Pictionary is a game of visualization and it improves the logical reasoning of kids. Take a Pictionary board, draw something and let the kid guess the word using interpretation skills. The Doodle Heist game mentioned above is a fun spin on this class game.

Chess 

Chess is an interesting game of logical reasoning. It increases the IQ level of the child. Teach them the moves, let them learn various tactics, and apply reasoning while playing.

Wrapping Up

When kids play mind games, they get involved in the process of learning new things creatively. Kids learn to solve problems, focus better and ultimately improve at every level. Even if they lose the game, the importance of playing brain-storming games is that they are always developing.

The post 15 Interactive Brain Games for Kids appeared first on Major League Mommy .

Is Lumosity a Lie? The Neuroscience Behind Brain Training Games

Brain training games promise to improve your memory, prevent cognitive losses and decrease your chances of showing symptoms of dementia – are their promises too good to be true?

Video games have become so much more than a way to pass time – they're used as simulations for teaching and training, tests of attention and skill, and even as diagnostic tools.

Recently, many online cognitive training platforms such as Lumosity have claimed that their "brain training" video games can help to slow symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease, which currently have no cure.  Unfortunately, the reality is a little more complicated than Lumosity's advertisements would suggest.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfIbIsVRDcM[/embed]

Neuroscience 101

Brain training games base their promises on two theories - the theory of neuroplasticity, and the theory of cognitive reserve.

Neuroplasticity is the process of the brain modifying its pathways as it learns new things. Originally, scientists thought that this process only occurred in childhood, but a breakthrough study by Draganski et al. in 2004 demonstrated that adults learning a new task (in this case, juggling) developed new, longterm physical changes in their brain's composition.

This breakthrough was huge for neuroscience, because it showed that adults can modify the structure of their brain even after it has matured.

Further studies have shown that these structural changes can even occur in adults diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment -- a high risk factor for the development of dementia.

The theory of cognitive reserve goes hand-in-hand with neuroplasticity. This theory proposes that life experiences, cognitive activities, and unique skill sets can allow your brain to compensate for the structural changes that come with aging and dementia by building new pathways.

Essentially, cognitive reserve is the "use it or lose it" theory - the more you use your brain, the more pathways it builds through neuroplasticity, and the longer it will take for you to show symptoms of cognitive decline or dementia.

What do Brain Training Games Look Like?

Brain training games come in all shapes and sizes.

While Lumosity is one of the best known companies in its industry, there are innumerable apps, video games, and websites available that are dedicated to brain training.

There is some variation between companies, but brain training games feature simple controls and design that allow the player to focus on a single cognitive skill such as memory, attention, processing speed, or problem solving. The games increase in difficulty over time.

The games are offered as "training programs" that are intended to be completed daily, and these programs may be individualized to some degree.

Competition in brain training games is usually limited to competition against yourself -- trying to improve your score in individual games, or an overall "brain health" score calculated at ongoing intervals which may offer comparisons to others that are of your age and education level.

While the games are simple and are targeted for non-gaming adults , they can be incredibly frustrating -- there is no doubt that they require focus and concentration to complete them quickly and accurately, and it can be addicting to watch your score improve while unlocking new levels.

So What is the Problem?

To summarize, thanks to neuroscience, we know two things:

• The brain can change even in adulthood when we learn new skills, and
• The more actively we use our brain, the more we decrease our individual chances of developing symptoms of dementia

And, thanks to the research that has gone into the development of brain training games we know that they:

• Focus on building new skills, and
• Place a priority on challenging your brain with new and targeted tasks.

Looking at these facts, it seems hard to believe that brain training games don't accomplish everything that they say they can - but unbiased research shows that there are some areas where they definitely don't measure up.

In fact, the Stanford Centre of Longevity released a statement written by cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists that referred to the claims made by brain training websites as "exaggerated and misleading" -- a statement that definitely should not be taken lightly.

"[…] exaggerated and misleading claims exploit the anxiety of adults facing old age for commercial purposes. Perhaps the most pernicious claim, devoid of any scientifically credible evidence, is that brain games prevent or reverse Alzheimer’s disease."

Where do Brain Training Games Fall Short?

Lumosity boasts that it has 70 million members, many of whom are paying a monthly subscription fee to access their full library of brain training games – a practice shared by most other brain training services.

For this reason, it's imperative that users understand what they are (and aren't) getting from the time and money they spend on brain training.

The best way to explain brain training games like Lumosity is that they are essentially an answer key for cognitive tests.

You will definitely improve in your ability to play the brain training games (as you would with any other video game), and your test scores will likely improve (because the brain training games are correlated to questions commonly used in cognitive tests).

However, many unbiased studies have shown that it is unlikely that the time you spend playing brain training games will actually enable you to use your brain in the ways that you want to use it in your daily life.

Essentially, brain training games only train your brain to play the games -- they do not train your brain for the problems that it will encounter in real life, and studies agree that it is unlikely that they actually contribute towards your cognitive reserve.

So... Is Lumosity Lying?

Over the past couple of years, Lumosity has toned down a lot of the language that they use concerning their brain training games. They may not be making explicitly false promises, but their insinuations are still pretty misleading.

While their homepage points to scientific studies and PhD's, it's important to remember that many of these studies and individuals are funded by Lumosity -- greatly increasing the likelihood that a positive end result will be reported.

When all of the literature is examined, there just isn't the support that Lumosity claims there is. Lumosity's games are great in theory, but they have failed to demonstrate any incredible positive effects when examined by outside sources.

The Future of Brain Training

The take-away from this article shouldn't be that video games will never be able to help prevent age-related cognitive decline and memory loss, nor should it be that time spent on Lumosity or similar websites is time wasted.

As we mentioned above, the logic for brain training games is THERE, and there is research to support the general idea of computerized brain training games. However, in its current state we just aren't quite able to achieve the results that we want.

In fact, a 2014 study by Shute, Ventura and Ke showed that participants who played Portal 2 (a video game that makes use of strategy and puzzles but isn't focused on cognitive training) was far more effective than Lumosity in improving students' performance on measures of problem solving, spatial skills, and persistence.

The real truth of the matter is that this is one of the research areas that could change the world  – but there is so much more research and innovation required in this area before that can happen.

While Lumosity may not be providing its users with protective gains in cognitive reserve, it is collecting tons of data about how users interact with brain training game and their efficacy (to a point). This data will be invaluable to game designers and neuroscientists moving forwards.

I fully believe that in the future there will be incredible, immersive video games that do allow users to learn new skills, improve their problem solving, and slow cognitive decline – but the research isn't there to support the brain training platforms that are available right now.

What Should I Do Now to Keep My Brain Healthy?

Go for a walk. Learn a new language. Eat a balanced diet. Meet new people. Take up a new hobby. All of these pastimes are great, scientifically supported, ways to keep your brain active , reduce risk factors of developing dementia, and create cognitive reserve.

If you enjoy the games on Lumosity and the challenges that they offer there is no reason to stop playing the games -- it's just important that you don't think playing twenty minutes of basic video games five times a week is enough targeted cognitive intervention to truly decrease your risk of developing symptoms of dementia or to improve your overall cognitive abilities outside of your skills in-game.

Improving brain health has been a hot topic in the news lately, so we ask you --  Do you have a Lumosity membership? What do you think the future holds for interactions between neuroscience and video games? 

Image Credit: Human Brain Sagittal View via. Shutterstock