Quite a while back, I blogged about the brain exercising site Lumosity. I decided to try it out, first through the open beta, then signing up for a (slightly expensive) monthly fee. I made it a point to run through a session at least every other day, and more often, every day.
I recently completed my first course - 30 sessions focusing on speeding up and generally strengthening the four main areas of brain activity: Memory, attention, cognitive control, and processing speed.
It has been gratifying to see my scores and BPI - that's Brain Performance Index for those of you who have yet to try the site - increase. What I'm less sure of is whether that merely shows an increase in skill level in game play or actual improvement in brain performance. Or even if that is a valid questionl.
However, I enjoy the games and look forward to playing them. It is a truth that I feel more awake and alert after playing them, although, in line with my earlier question, I'm not entirely sure that this would not be true with a different set of games or mental exercises, like a crossword or a chess match.
In any case, Lumosity has recently added more games and I have enrolled in a shorter course designed to beef up my processing speed by isolating it, much like a body builder can isolate certain muscle groups for better overall fitness. The screengrab associated with this post is one such game - called Word Bubbles - where in the player is given a sequence of three letters, in this case "pen" and the player must type in as many words as he or she can think of that use this word within the time limit. It's harder than it sounds.
If Lumosity can keep bringing forth new and innovative games, combined with the general ease-of-use, and good, and accessible, record keeping, I will be happy to keep sending them my money every month.
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I recently completed my first course - 30 sessions focusing on speeding up and generally strengthening the four main areas of brain activity: Memory, attention, cognitive control, and processing speed.
It has been gratifying to see my scores and BPI - that's Brain Performance Index for those of you who have yet to try the site - increase. What I'm less sure of is whether that merely shows an increase in skill level in game play or actual improvement in brain performance. Or even if that is a valid questionl.
However, I enjoy the games and look forward to playing them. It is a truth that I feel more awake and alert after playing them, although, in line with my earlier question, I'm not entirely sure that this would not be true with a different set of games or mental exercises, like a crossword or a chess match.
In any case, Lumosity has recently added more games and I have enrolled in a shorter course designed to beef up my processing speed by isolating it, much like a body builder can isolate certain muscle groups for better overall fitness. The screengrab associated with this post is one such game - called Word Bubbles - where in the player is given a sequence of three letters, in this case "pen" and the player must type in as many words as he or she can think of that use this word within the time limit. It's harder than it sounds.
If Lumosity can keep bringing forth new and innovative games, combined with the general ease-of-use, and good, and accessible, record keeping, I will be happy to keep sending them my money every month.