I recently had the opportunity to review Lumosity’s Speed Brain over on whatsoniphone.com. Lumosity claims the game, and its other website-based challenges, will help sharpen the mind. Lumosity was developed with experts in neuroscience. There are now two main components to the program- the iPhone game Speed Brain and a web-based program and both are worth a look.
The main part of the program involves a 30-session online web program. It includes a mix of games that take just 10 minutes of your day. They can also be played repeatedly while monitoring and measuring progress. Since first hearing about Lumosity I have been using the web program. I find it both fun and challenging and while I am not feeling particularly smarter or more focused, I do find that my scores are increasing.
The second part of the program involves Lumosity’s first game- Speed Brain. Speed Brain isn’t just any iPhone/iPod Touch game. It is a “brain fitness tool” and was designed to improve mental acuity with regard to everyday tasks. It is said to aid in improving memory, process speed, attention and cognitive control with “fun but effective online workouts”. The game is designed to improve processing speed and reaction time by asking you to quickly and accurately determine whether a symbol matches the last one that you saw.
As is the case with the web-based program, Lumosity claims that Speed Brain increases brain function. I don’t know about that but I do know that the game is a whole lot harder than it first looks.
The game itself is rather straightforward- once started you are shown one of three symbols/patterns. The game then replaces that one with another and you need to either tap the button marked “Match” or “No Match”. After making a selection, the app immediately presents a new screen and you are asked to mark whether or not it matches the previous screen. The faster you make a selection, the faster the new screens come. At the end of the round you are rated on both speed and accuracy and given a percentile rating.
Simple, right? Not so much. In order to be both accurate and fast, the game requires a high degree of both concentration and quick reflexes. After I got the hang of it (two or three rounds of incredibly low scores) I still had rounds that were either slow or inaccurate. The more I played, however, the more I found myself able to focus on the game and strike a balance between the two.
As far as a fun diversion goes, this game a simple fun. As far as the company’s claim that it improves cognitive function… who knows but apparently psychologists at Universities worldwide (Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, Columbia, SFSU, etc.) are using Lumosity in laboratory studies, tests, and clinical trials.
More information on both the web program and the iPhone game Speed Brain can be found on the company’s website- lumosity.com.
Speed Brain can be downloaded HERE in the iTunes App Store for just $.99.
