Lumosity - is it wort paying for?

[mrsmith]

Have done the free trial 3 times.
Would like to have an idea about
If it is worth paying for a subscription? and,
If I take a monthly subscription, if it is easy to stop it or freeze it? (stop it for a few months and then continue).

The idea is to do it intensively for one month, and then stop and do something else, probably n-back.

Lumosity seems quite general, and from other posts it seems better to do a concentrated effort with something narrow like Cogmed or n-back consistently in periods.

(Though if you compare the price to for example Cogmed, it might be wort continuing just to have an independent measure of the progress)

[TJake]

Lumosity is worthwhile if you are able to stick to the training program consistently. They have good working memory training games and seem to add new games regularly. You can pace yourself or they have planned exercise programs that you follow.

I don't know if they give an option to freeze the account, but I didn't have any problems cancelling my account. After a few months I was not using it regularly so I cancelled. The $10/month is relatively cheap if have the time and motivation to stick with it.

[FrazzleDazzle]

I also signed up for Lumosity a while back, and I had no problems cancelling either. I just re-signed up again though, I feel that I need to brush up and maintain the skills I gained on there. It's not nearly as intense as a program like CogMed, but you can certainly work on there for as long as you like, I usually do each game 2-3 times in a row each session.

[TJake]

I agree with Frazzle. It's also a nice way to refresh and maintain working memory.

Games like Brain Age, might be more cost effective for long term use, but then you have to purchase a game console.

[alphalpha]

well i dont know how difficult or easy it is to cancel...what I did was to change the card id that is stored in the website to a wrong one..so that next time when it tries to renew..it will have to ask me whether the card is right or wrong..and i can deny giving my actual card no..if I dont want to renew...

[alphalpha]

also for those of you who are on lumosity..whats your bpi...i am at 905..and subscribed yesterday...my percentile is pathetic...i am below 40 percentile of the people using lumosity...

[steven d]

Is the program actually effective? Does it change anything very much? Is it worth the time?

Just some questions. I read about lumosity before but I'm not sure I would participate because ofcourse it's time-consuming and I'm not sure if it would contribute to good "brain health" very much.

[alphalpha]

well they do have some significant research results....however they are results which they did themselves...and was not probably independently verified by any third party....

http://www.lumosity.com/info/science/results

[alphalpha]

in a recent study done at Stockholm Brain Institute, the founders of CogMed found that brain training can change the dopamine concentration and brain chemistry. The paper published by Science can be found here:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/conten...t/323/5915/800
(this requires a subscription)

A more lay man type of article can be found here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0206081507.htm

[TJake]

Working memory training has been very useful for me. Lumosity is one option but it really depends on how motivated you can be in sticking with the training. I did some training on Lumosity a while back, while trying to duplicate the Cogmed training program on my own. I have written up some of the notes on the Cogmed thread (see link in my signature).

Some WM training programs (similar to Cogmed) require you to do WM training for at least 45 minutes a day for 5 days a week for 5 weeks. This is not an easy thing to do without someone to help motivate you. So that is one reason I would recommend Cogmed over this type of DIY training.

After doing WM training, I noticed that my alertness had noticeably improved. I no longer feel tired when I get up in the morning. It seem that I'm alert no matter what time I get up. Now this makes sense to me given that WM training increases dopamine production (see alphaalpha's link in previous post).

Another option for WM training is The Brain Fitness Program by Posit Science. I saw very noticeable improvements in my WM memory after doing it.

The main improvments I saw with WM training are better memory and alertness. I also feel a more focused but this was not as noticeable. As good as the results have been, it's best to think of WM training as just one piece of the puzzle.

[ric7729]

Originally Posted by alphalpha

also for those of you who are on lumosity..whats your bpi...i am at 905..and subscribed yesterday...my percentile is pathetic...i am below 40 percentile of the people using lumosity...

dont worry about that i started at 853. Its about how much your willing to invest in it. im now at 1240 with a percentage better than 76% of people. My aim is to get my overall to 90% and i think i can do it but its not going to come easy and in a sense it shouldnt. btw my lumosity points are at 2070 to give you an idea of how much i ve used it over 2 months. It brings out my competitive nature and im really into self tracking and the quantified self movement so maby thats just me. I do believe it is helping me and its interesting to see how things affect your score. e.g. medication, lack of sleep, rec. drug use, feeling tired etc.

i havent regretted my yearly subscription at all i just wish they would have more variety in the games for the courses.

[steveman]

I've been doing lumosity full subscribed for almost a year now. my thoughts on lumosity are the following:

1)It's absolutely improved my ability to remember the names of new people I meet. I used to take three times meeting someone. Now after the first time I remember 99% of the time.
2) I'm in the 98th percentile on lumosity, and I know I'm really the not a genius (IQ 117, (high average) Maybe less intelligent people are doing lumosity, or maybe I'm just good at the games.
3) I can't say that I'm any smarter after all the work I've put in. I'm not putting it out of the relm of possibility. I've gotten better at the games. But so would anyone. The real question is whether or not these improvements generalize to real life activities outside the specific tasks seen on Lumosity. I think we all hope the answer is yes.
4)I've been doing the dual n back for a round a month now. I might be remembering things I hear better...not sure if thats my imagination.

[ConcertaParent]

Since three different medication so far have not worked well for my 10-year old ADHD daughter, we are considering supplemental treatments. Has anybody here found Lumosity.com (or any brain software) to be helpful and worthwhile for their ADHD child? Has anybody tried the Lumosity ADHD experimental 40-session course?

[ConcertaParent]

I am trying out a one-month Lumosity membership for my now 11-year old daughter with ADHD, dyscalculia, etc. Her overall BPI is only 343, in the bottom 17%. How do I make the most out of Lumosity, e.g.,

1) First do ALL 16 assessments and brain grade test?
2) Do the ADHD 40-session course within 30 days?
3) Try to do the Math Tutor course?
4) Redo all the assessments to see improvements?

[Yaaziel]

This thread would indicate that it is of questionable worth:

http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125254