Webtresting

Lumosity is a computer game that claims to be a proven brain fitness program. It is reported that starting from around the age of 30 the cognitive ability in humans start to slow down. There may be various reasons causing the observed reduction in the cognitive ability. However, just as a physical fitness program can help you keep fit despite of age factors, similarly brain fitness program should help you keep your brain fit. Lumosity is an online brain fitness program designed by neuroscientists, and it claims to have scientifically demonstrated to improve the users memory, attention and response time.

How Lumosity helps you keep up your brain fitness?

Lumosity is basically a collection of games that needs you to exert your various cognitive faculties like mental prowess, memory, response time and most importantly concentration. The main advantage of Lumosity over alternatives like solving puzzles, or playing crossword is the dynamic nature of a computer game. It allows you keep track of your improvements, and compete with your “past you”.

What kind of games do they offer?

Well, they are in beta and are free, so why not try them out yourself? Still, if you want a glimpse of what it is about, here are a few inside stories:

• Bird Watching: A bird and a letter flashes simultaneously for a short moment on your computer screen. You need to point the cursor to the point where the bird was. If you could correctly locate the location of the bird on the screen, you need to identify which alphabet was displayed with the bird. If you fail to do so, you are taken to the next frame. This demands multi tasking of your brain, as identifying the position of one object and the shape of another could be a bit difficult to do simultaneously. But it doesn’t end there. If you correctly identify the letter, you are then given the opportunity to guess the species of bird using the letter shown. You receive extra points for guessing correctly before you have filled in all of the letters. However, if you guess incorrectly, you lose 10 points.
• Word Bubbles: You are given three letters, and you need to come up with as many words as you can that starts with those three alphabets. This helps you improve your fluency and creativity.
• Monster Garden: It is a test of memory and attention. You are briefly shown where two monsters are hiding in a 4×4 maze, and then you have to find a path from the gardener to the flower without stepping on a monster. If you succeed, you are given bonus points for being able to identify where the monsters were hiding. You can also receive “health” points for making your path intersect with a vegetable. As you progress, the number of monsters increases and remembering where they are located is very, very hard.
• Lost in Migration: It is designed to increase your cognitive control and reaction time. You are shown the flight pattern of birds. The central bird’s direction is the one you must identify. Therefore, if all of the other birds are facing one way, but the central bird is facing another, you are required to suppress your automatic response to all the other birds and just focus on the center one. This is my best game for some reason. I can hyper-focus on the central bird without any errors.
• Raindrops: It is a game for processing speed and numerical reasoning. Watch out on this one! The mathematical problems drop down ever so gently in a cloud. You must solve the equation, type it in, and hit “enter” before the cloud hits the ground and becomes rainwater. The game lulls you into a false sense of security then starts dropping rainclouds left, right, and center. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division… I was glad the timer ran out before I had to start performing calculus! That was intense! Moreover, no matter how many times I have played this game, my mind freezes up when I get six clouds at once.

Updates: The Lumosity website seems to be unavailable for the time being.