Lumosity Tips and Tricks to Train Your Brain

Lumosity to pay fines for false advertising and false claims about the effectiveness of their website.

2016-01-05T18:00:00.001-08:00

Lumosity to Pay $2 Million to Settle FTC Deceptive Advertising Charges for Its “Brain Training” Program

Don't worry people. A lot of us were duped by the fascinating claims about neuroplasticity and other scientific double-talk. Sure, neuroplasticity may be a real thing, and the concept of playing brain games to improve cognitive functions may still be proven in the future, but as far as what Lumosity was claiming, it was not well enough documented for them to make huge profits by saying that they could reverse the effects of various brain disorders from Alzheimer's to PTSD. In fact, the FTC decided it was fraudulent enough to fine them $2 million dollars. A drop in the bucket for these money-grubbers, but more importantly, they were able to shine a light on their snake oil claims.

There are plenty of people who attest to the effectiveness of Lumosity and other brain training sites through their own personal experience, but personal experience is not science, and that was what Lumosity tried to shove down our throats. That it was a purely scientific endeavor backed by years of research. People also claim to be abducted by UFOs and to travel outside of their bodies to the Astral Plane. Maybe they do, but it hasn't been proven by the mainstream science community.

I remember logging in years ago to find the links to all these articles and scientific papers front and center on the opening page of their website. When I went to go look again, it took some real sleuthing to find any mention of anything even close to fact based evidence. It was tucked away beneath a mile of sub-menus and contained no active links. If you want to figure out if Lumosity works, apparently you need to go get your PhD and do the research yourself.

Through my own experience, I had come to the same conclusion that these games did not seem to do anything but make me better at these games. And the pure simplicity of the games made wonder if playing more complex ones would help me more. I played for a long time and saw little improvement past a regular baseline that would fluctuate but stay more or less within the same standards.

I can understand that playing Lumosity games may help improve some cognitive functions, but to claim that Lumosity games are somehow better at it than anything else, or that they have specific ways of curing brain diseases better than say a hospital or doctor were pretty outlandish claims.

But who was I to argue? They had "scientific papers" all over the place that seemed to have something to do with what they were claiming. And neither am I a scientist with any credentials. It seemed there were tons of prestigious Universities lining up to join in and be a part of this neuroplasticity revolution. Sure, neuroplasticity is real, and sure, when playing games, new brain connections are made. But they are made no matter what. So the sidewalk can't claim to improve brain functions because walking on it requires your brain to make new neural pathways. "Come join our sidewalk walking club, only $99 a year. Proven to work on the concept of neuroplasticity!"

I am still willing to think that in the future, there may be some more concrete evidence, but as for now, the claims have obviously been bogus.

I sort of had a weird feeling when I would play some of their games made by so-and-so neuroscientist smarty pants, and yet they contained basic spelling errors and other things anyone could have spotted, much less someone claiming to be at the forefront of cutting edge science...

Moneycomb Tips and Tricks

2016-01-04T04:30:00.000-08:00

Moneycomb Review on the website Lumosity.com

A game meant to test and improve your spatial memory

Lumosity says, "Spatial recall is a form of memory involved in tracking location and position within an environment." Moneycomb has you remembering the location of three sets of 3-5 objects and then rediscovering them in order once they disappear.

Moneycomb often appears in my daily training "algorithm" (albeit a broken one with only about 10% of the games on Lumosity ever included). I considered this one of the most tedious games on the website. The pace is snail like, the sessions are long (15 rounds), the graphics are plain, and the sounds can become irritating. The name says it all... it's a Moneycomb... like a honeycomb (made by bees) but instead it has money in it... or at least circular things that are supposed to represent Super Mario Brother'ish coins. Apparently these are capitalist bees who must have some painful digestions. Do not be fooled into thinking they are referring to a comb you use for your hair, because then it would be very confusing.

I enjoy challenges. If I find a game to be slow and plodding, it is a good excuse for me to develop my patience and concentration, because that is what is required during this game. Maybe in this day and age where my senses are being constantly overstimulated, it is no wonder I enjoy the fast paced "twitch" games that require speedier reflexes. But it also tells me that being able to slow down and focus over a "long period" of time can be a valuable and somewhat increasingly rare ability.

The game consists of 15 rounds which each contain three stages per round. The levels get progressively harder the better a person does. Each level looks like a honeycomb... or should I say Moneycomb... (groan) which are basically a bunch of hexagons fitted together as hexagons are apt to do. Each stage a number of coins with appear with stage one having coins with the number one on them and stage two having the number two on them. You start off having to remember about 3 coins for stage one, 3 coins for stage two, and 2 coins for stage three. If you get them correctly, you will begin seeing about 5 stage one coins, 5 stage two coins, and 4 stage three coins. I imagine stage three may even get up to five coins but this is not a game I have mastered yet so I don't know the upper limit.

Tips and Strategies for Moneycomb

As I mentioned earlier, the game requires a lot of focus and concentration. Over the course of about 11 seconds, you are shown three sets of numbered coins that stay on screen approximately 3.5 seconds each. When put in perspective, that doesn't seem very long at all, but when compared to other Lumosity games (like Speed Match) in which button presses are measured in milliseconds, it can feel like a lifetime.

Like most of the games on Lumosity, the key for me is to stay as completely calm and focused as I can. I noticed that if I was thinking about something else, anything else, that it was difficult to remember the locations of 14 coins correctly over the course of 11 seconds. Even the pace of the game would often have me frustrated which lead me to lose concentration and forget some valuable information. I can definitely see how this ability would carry over to many other areas of life. It definitely feels like something ADHD sufferers must experience.

If I became perturbed by the slow pace of the game, which in turn lead me to make a mistake, which in turn would lead me to become more distracted, which would only lead down a progressive downward spiral of poor performances to the point that I would stop trying and just be clicking everywhere in a spastic dance of fruitless (honeyless?) Moneycombing madness.

Maybe I will try to break down some more obvious strategies. People seem to like lists as opposed to well thought out prose (yes, that's what this is, prose!)

1. Always put remembering the coins in the first stage as your number one priority because you have to select ALL the coins from the first stage before you can uncover coins from stage two and so on. So if you don't remember the first set of coins, then you may accidentally uncover coins from the later stages but get no points for them. Even though the stage three coins are worth the most, they won't be worth anything if you can't find all the stage one coins first.

2. Remember the coins in relation to each other. Instead if having to remember the exact location of every coin, if you can at least remember the locations of the coins in the first stage, then you'll know where the other coins AREN'T located, which should make things a little easier until you can begin remembering all of the coins.

3. Try and remember the coins in patterns, shapes, and in their relation to the layout. Are the coins grouped together? Are they on the edges? Do they go in a line? Do they fall on the same latitude or longitude (the same vertical or horizontal plane)? Are they next to other coins? How many coins do I need to find?

4. You can put your mouse cursor over the stage one coin that might be the most difficult to remember and leave it there throughout the round. Usually the one coin that doesn't have any discernible trait that makes it stand out and easier to remember.

5. Don't get upset or frustrated if you have trouble one round. There are 15 rounds and it is very easy to make up for a bad round. Even if you have 14 bad rounds, you can still have a good 15th. It only takes one good round to make you realize that it is possible to carry that experience over. If you can do it once, you can do it again. This is a good tip for life in general. Don't ever give up even if you're on a losing streak, because once you give up, you have 0% chance of succeeding. If you don't give up, you always have a chance to improve if you just relax and stay calm.

These games are all about improving over time. If you improve even just a tiny bit, then that is a win!

Enjoy the challenge!

Revisiting Lumosity.com after being away for a year

2014-01-17T07:40:00.000-08:00

I tried Lumosity.com after not logging in for close to a year and it has changed a lot.

There used to be free games that were always unlocked. When I logged in just now, it appears that you are given access to about three games
during your "Daily Training." After that all the games are locked out until the next day or until you pay to unlock full access. So you are only allowed to play three games a day.

When I first tried Lumosity.com a few years ago, I was given 30 days of full access when I opened a new account. I found the full access to be very enjoyable and it made me want to pay to have full access.

Apparently that is no longer part of their system. I am a little saddened by the new structure, not just because it limits my ability to play, but because I don't think I would have been very interested in using the website if I hadn't had the opportunity to try it for free and see what I was missing.

And not to be critical, but when I first logged into Lumosity years ago, the website had some issues with text and a somewhat clumsy and confusing user interface. It surprised me when logging in after all this time that there were still minor issues such as broken tool tips and other nonsense afoot.

For a website that claims to be "the leader in brain training," to have some very basic errors and such weird programming, it is hard to take them seriously. It is strange to me to see that same sort of sloppiness still exist.

With a background in video game testing, I can understand if a project is rushed out the door and there are some issues people missed. But the people at Lumosity have all the time in the world. And not only do they have time, they have a really simple interface that does not have that many things to check.

I have decided to outline some of the specific problems I see from the very beginning. For one, it claims "Analysis of our database shows that just 10-15 minutes of Lumosity training per day can lead to improvements in Lumosity over time." Really? Is that supposed to entice me in some way? That would be like saying 10-15 minutes of using Facebook can improve my ability to Facebook over time. So I guess I can become a Lumosity expert, but where does that get me? And the wording is really awkward. Is it saying that Lumosity itself improve? Maybe I am reading it wrong or misunderstanding what it is trying to say, but it seems confusing to me.

Another minor cosmetic problem. When I am signing up as a new user, the icon that appears in your internet browser's tab will be the icon of your internet browser. This is very minor but shows a real lack of detail, something that should be a little more obvious to a "neuroscientist."

Another screen says, "Tell us a little bit more about yourself so we can provide an additional level of personalization." Then proceeds to ask you where you heard about Lumosity. How exactly are they going to personalize my experience by knowing where I learned about the website? It seems a simple marketing question that will have no effect on my "personalization." Still, a very minor issue but a somewhat misleading statement.

After finishing the first training exercise, I get to a screen that has a button at the bottom. Luckily, it is labeled "Button"! I am glad that it is labeled or I might not know that was a button. I assume it should say something like "Next" although maybe it is supposed to be labeled as "Button" only. But it is probably an error because when I mouse over it, the tooltip says "translation missing: etc.."

After you're done with the initial three games you're stuck with nothing much to do game-wise until tomorrow unless you're willing to put down some money. One of the awkward moments, for me at least, happens whenever you click on the tabs marked "Home" or "Lumosity." Every time you click on these tabs, it gives you a rather tedious 3-part message telling you how they are, "Personalizing your training program!" Is it really personalizing your training program or is this just some random message that makes it appear to be so. I don't know but your scores have no changed at all and the message is completely redundant and actually really annoying because there is no way to skip it. And although it is "personalizing" it for you, it gives absolutely no indication of what that means in any way. It doesn't give you an outline of any sort. You just have to trust that it is doing something and not just giving you a random set of games every time you log in.

Another minor cosmetic problem is when you mouse over the "Lumosity Points," a message box pops up but you get a blank message. The mouse overs for Training History and BPI both have information so that's why I assume this one should also have information.

These issues are such basic things that anybody with any experience as a quality assurance tester would be able to find, much less neuroscientists. It really is just common sense sort of stuff. It tells me that they do not pay very much attention when designing or testing the website, or that they do not even care. If they cannot even take care of very simple issues like these, how are we to expect the more complicated things to be effective?

I then click on the Lumosity blog link and a "Not Found, Error 404 The page you are looking for no longer exists. Perhaps you can return back to the site's homepage and see if you can find what you are looking for. Or, you can try finding it with the information below. - See more at: http://www.lumosity.com/blog/lumosity-introduces-human-cognition-project/#sthash.mnJa9MBg.dpuf"

I feel smarter already!

I had more fun debugging their website than actually playing the games.

Although honestly, most people will never notice or not really care about these small issues. But to me, the details matter.

Does Watching Porn Cause Memory Loss?

2012-12-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

Dude, Where's My Porn?

A study done by German scientists at the University of Duisburg-Essen has shown some correlation between between watching pornography and short-term memory loss.

A group of 28 heterosexual men with an average age of 26 were shown images of sexually explicit and non-sexually explicit images. The men were able to remember the non-pornographic images 90% of the time. When trying to recall the sexually explicit photos, the men were only able to recall 67% of what they saw.

Apparently, they are trying to figure out why Internet-porn addicts miss appointments, neglect relationships and even forget to sleep and eat.

In a study published by the Journal of Sexual Medicine, it was shown that the primary visual cortex will not work as effectively when high intensity erotic images are shown. The parts of the brain that are used for sexual arousal become more active and the flow of blood is redirected away from the primary visual cortex and the adjoining parts of the secondary visual cortex. Instead, the majority of blood flows towards those areas of the brain that control sexual arousal. They found that the brain doesn't need to be that active in scanning the visual field of the pornography like you would a non-sexual movie or image. Maybe the solution would be to make porn movies with better plots?

So when the ability to process information using the primary visual cortex becomes hindered, the person is unable to remember as well as when they are fully focused and engaged in more intellectual pursuits. The viewing of sexual images does not seem to take much intelligence and you revert to a more primitive area of the brain that reacts to sexual stimuli, much like an animal in heat, you don't think, you just procreate for the betterment of your species. But as humans grow, we try to move past this and evolve our rational mind by watching movies that have stories, plots, morals, and other intellectually stimulating subjects. Maybe that is why we don't see a lot of movies directed by animals.

What goes on in pornography? Who cares? It doesn't really matter. All we want to see is naked bodies having sexual intercourse. People will get this wide eyed look, like when they're at a strip club. They become zombies and appear to be in a daze. I've seen the effect pornography has on people. It is hypnotizing. It makes us act weird.

Although, I notice the same sort of problems associated with playing video games online. Your brain sort of zones out and you end up in a state that may have first been coined by the use of the word "Evercrack", a reference to the MMORPG Everquest, one of the first games that began to wreck people's lives as they became addicted to their craft.

The above YouTube video discusses Evercrack and the obsession with internet gaming.

How to counteract memory loss

Lumosity.com has many games developed by experts in the field of neuroscience to counteract all these bad behaviors we have picked up in our modern world. We are becoming vegetables in many ways. My brain constantly turns off, whether it's watching commercials, listening to my family nag me, or anything else.

Lumosity.com and their various memory games have reawakened many parts of my brain that I never used before. Parts of my brain that became atrophied after so many years of zoning out.

It is not just pornography, it seems everything out there nowadays requires very little thought (think BoobTube). We just zone out and let something else do the thinking for us.

Take action. Your memory will improve, your attention will improve, and your overall well-being will improve even if you are not able to see the subtle and not so subtle changes.

It is a process. People don't use their brains anymore. We listen to authority, but we don't question it. We don't want to think, it's just too hard, and what if we're wrong? It is easier to let someone else make a decision for us.

Lumosity's games are all about decision making. You are pummeled with test after test of your decision making abilities. How quickly can you take in the information and make an informed decision?

The brain functions much like a computer with 0's and 1's, Yes or No, Stimulus/Response. Although we may think that things are so complicated, it is really just a series of Yes and No decisions that we make thousands of times of day. Right or Left? Sink or Swim?

It is also necessary to develop the ability to think outside the box. Maybe you don't need to go left or right, but an alternative direction like up or down and even reverse. That is why the 40+ games on Lumosity.com train the areas of your brain that perform different functions. Then, when you play the games in different orders, they create unique connections between the different areas of your brain that control memory, attention, flexibility, and more, allowing you to make better decisions by incorporating all the different areas of your brain.

You will be better in some areas than others and you'll have a better understanding of where you stand in relation to your brain's ability to function as well as it possibly can.

View my other posts for a better description of some of the different games that Lumosity.com has.

Lumosity - My Daily Training Game Videos

2012-12-09T20:41:00.003-08:00

Hello. I decided to just make a YouTube video of each of my daily training games today on Lumosity.com. I think all five games were in the memory category. Are they ever going to fix this or do they want to drive people away by the droves?

Ok, I get it. Train my memory. Can I play something else please?

Oh well, I'll update this blog tomorrow, right now YouTube is not displaying the videos I uploaded.

==========

Monday morning 6:00am.

Warning:

I get a little loopy during these games, but I think I had some insightful comments near the end of a few of the videos. But, if you see by my behavior, I have serious ADD and can't stand to focus for very long. Although extremely frustrating at times, it is teaching me to focus for longer periods of time than I am used to.

Everything in life has a purpose, it's just a matter of trying a lot of new things. People have a tendency to do one thing real well but be fearful of trying anything else. I think we are seeing people go towards more of a Renaissance-type of atmosphere in which people are well rounded individuals and looking towards a new age of Enlightenment.

People should be able to do everything well, from physical sports, to spirituality, to sound economic behavior, and an increase in the almost forgotten arts. Literally the Arts & Literature that is slowly disappearing and being replaced by mindless reality drivel and overly dramatized crime shows. Even the History Channel is inundated with programs like Pawn Stars and Gator Brothers or whatever these shows are. Where is the history there? I remember when they would show documentaries only. A lot of them about War, but they moved all those over to more specialized channels.

People are getting dumb, but there is still hope.

Brain Training -- Improving My Memory

2012-12-06T23:48:00.001-08:00

How Do I Improve My Memory?

Click Here

Your brain needs to be exercised everyday. The more you exercise it the better it gets. It is necessary to focus on specifically training the part of the brain that works with your memory if you want to improve your memory. If you want to improve your memory, try and remember random things and remember as much as you can at a single glance.

Lumosity.com has created a batch of games specifically for improving your brain performance in the area of memory.

Face Memory Workout a set of faces being scrolled in front of your face. The goal of the game is to remember one, two, or three faces at a time. As the faces scroll, you have to remember what face appeared in the first, second, or third place of scrolling faces. It is difficult to explain and easier if you just watch the YouTube video I uploaded.

Click here to improve your memory

Lumosity.com: Memory Match Overload

2012-12-03T00:52:00.000-08:00

Click Here To Improve Your Memory

Memory Match Overload is a game on brain fitness site Lumosity.com that emphasizes your working memory. It is an improved version of Memory Match, another game that trains your working memory.

Playing Memory Match Overload is supposed to improve or sharpen your learning skills, reasoning ability, IQ, intelligence, and working with different types of information in your head simultaneously. All of these things have to do with how well you can remember a lot of different things at once.

For example you might want to manage meetings where lots of diverse ideas are discussed. This will help. It has practical applications in every facet of your life.

Click Here To Improve Your Memory

Improving Fluid Intelligence.

Memory games are also supposed to improve your Fluid Intelligence. What is fluid intelligence? Fluid intelligence is defined as the ability to reason quickly and to think abstractly. This type of intelligence tends to decline during late adulthood and that is where Lumosity comes into as new type of brain gym to exercise those underused parts of your brain.

Fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence, combine to form what psychologist Raymond Cattell described as general intelligence. While fluid intelligence involves the ability to reason and deal with the complex environment and information overload that occurs around us, crystallized intelligence involves knowledge and experience acquired over a lifetime.

For example, memorizing words to remember during the game Word Bubbles is a good example of crystallized intelligence. The ability to make good decisions on the fly is fluid intelligence. The ability to drive a manual transmission is crystallized intelligence, but the ability to avoid accidents is probably more your fluid intelligence because you cannot always train for those circumstances, you are just making it up as you go along. You don’t need to speak a word of English or know any math to have common sense or fluid intelligence. And people who memorize a lot of things can be lacking in fluid intelligence, something that causes a lot of backlash with people who think they’re smart but have no fluid intelligence. They may know a lot of vocabulary but have nothing important to say, whereas you can say a lot with very little.

The human brain continues to create new neurons inside your brain during the course of your entire lifetime. Exercise and cognitive stimulation (training your brain) can increase how many new cells are created in your brain. It is very important to exercise both your fluid and crystallized intelligence and continue to build both of them throughout your life.

My Personal Training

Click Here To Improve Your Memory

Memory Match Overload seems to come up a lot in my personal training. Probably because Lumosity wants data on the newest games so they stack your daily training with the games they want data on or the games that you have low amounts of repetition on. People probably play a few games a lot and ignore these other games. Maybe they should take a hint at Lumosity and devlop games people want to play.

On my first try I got a Top Five Score. I know I have a lot of room for improvement.

The trick is to get it perfect first and then slowly build up speed. Try really hard to remember the order of things and it will get easier with practice. And with repeated practice your memory will improve so much and you'll get better at this game and with those little tasks that need your memory to be as sharp as it can be. It helps in every part of your life.

The more I play, on average I get better.

I just check on YouTube and I had uploaded videos for a score of 2710. I have really improved without even trying. It is because I am playing music and doing other things with my brain. Learned some basic programming, went exercising more, socializing more. It all helps. And eventually you improve...

Click Here To Improve Your Memory

What's Eating Gilbert Grape aka Design Issues with Lumosity

2012-12-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

Do you get bored on Lumosity?

What is good design? I don't know, all I know is what works for me. It is my personal opinion and I know it is going to be poo-poo'd by the million dollar developers, but it would help to listen to someone who uses Lumosity a lot and offers a fresh prespective on the future of website.

As a forward looking person and somewhat of a visionary, or the rarely used word luminary, I am a very bright person and unfortunately a magnet for a lot of weird and negative things. Positive things seem to be pushed away, I don't know what that means. It is difficult to be a highly gifted person with a high IQ. You worry and stress about a lot of stuff. You are not normal.

I am a very sensitive person and I have a lot of issues I deal with emotionally, mentally and so on. The fact that Lumosity can be nerve wracking and stressful really takes away from the benefits of the site. I would imagine having the least stressful experience possible would be the ultimate goal and aim of the design staff. I suffer from a bit of the PTSD and so on and as much as I want to complete the daily training, I find myself unable to do it. I was dropped on my head alot as a kid so I have all sorts of problems.

The games can be very stressful. Overly long. Tedious. They really need to be scaled down to under a minute or two. And some of these more tedious games seem to be repeated over and over again in the Daily Training.

And the repetition of the games. Especially the repetition of the new games that are 5 to 6 minutes in length each. Sometimes I don't have time, like right now.

Dude, Where's My Content?

Same text, same games every day.

The site seems somewhat abandoned at times, with anybody playing any amount of time will have their eyes glaze over as they read the same things and play the same few games over and over.

Part of the problem is that the part of lumosity that changes is hidden way in the back. The tiny social aspect of Lumosity, their usage of Facebook, is great for people who use Facebook, or their twitter feed and blog. Some of us may not be socially adept. I really wanted to connect with other people on Lumosity. I think it is a rare breed of people who want to sit around and play brain games.

They say that socializing is a big part of having good brain functions, so why not provide some of that for us. Why not make the website a one stop shop for brain fitness, with a gym membership being included. Lumosity could have a diet program too. There are a lot of brain health fitness sites out there that really trump Lumosity in providing the entire picture. If Lumosity is trying to sell subscriptions, it's time to offer something more than just beep beep boop boop all the time.

I mean what do most of the people do all day at Lumosity, nothing I'm sure. Just browsing the web and living off subscription money with large salaries. THat's their perogotive but eventually someone is going to come along and do it better. Have better games, integrated social media, new games all the time and so on.

Really Lumosity is sort of a watered down version of modern video games like Call of Duty and so on. Those games make a lot more because they have a lot higher production value. Not some guy doing flash games in the corner. I used to learn a lot from video games, like realistic gun models, city models, economic models, social models, and so on. Games can be extremely education, especially when they are based historically and deal with important times in history. They are also used as simulations and models for future projects without having to do it physically, they can just make projections and models created inside their computers.

But it was really difficult. They make it really difficult to get to know each other. No messaging, no nothing. Like some horribly sterile lab experiment.

With all those millions they were given, they should invest in a new web design that incorporates a total social model, chat room, and make it look like a combination of Facebook and MySpace but with the focus on healthy brain functions.

They can host webinars and really increase subscription conversions. They may spend a few million, but they'll get back that much every month.

Maybe they can get some real studies going too. Instead of thinking of new ones, just try to replicate the existing ones on larger scales. Or consult some new people to figure out a way to legitimize this sort of thing so it isn't considered a scam.

I said this the very first time I started using Lumosity. You guys really need to do something. Scale up. Outsource, find some people who can do these things fast. Instead of taking that 32 million and holding on to it untilt he next set of grants comes in. Just paying salaries and maybe putting out one or two new games.

Bust out some real expansion and spend most of the money investing back so that in the future you'll see more robust subscriptions and new unique visitors with better conversions.

Anyway, I have a meetup to go to in Los Angeles for SEO.

+++

I'm back and learned a lot of new stuff.

This is something I thought of myself.

If you sat through and read this entire post, please comment at the end.

I'll make it easy.

Does Lumosity get boring? What what you do to improve Lumosity?

Please comment and tell me what you might want to see on this blog, if anything.

Lumosity: Speed Match review and guide

2012-11-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

Speed Match

Sometimes you have to go slow if you want to go fast.

How Fast Are Your Reflexes?

Speed Match, a game on brain fitness site Lumosity.com, is designed to train and improve your processing speed and reaction time. Speed Match focuses on improving processing speed by evaluating how quickly a person can evaluate a simple Yes/No problem. Processing speed is often considered a bottleneck for other cognitive functions, so improving this area improves all the other areas.

Not only is Speed Match good for your cognitive functions, it is also one of the most fast paced and enjoyable games on Lumosity. If you are a fan of games, you’ll want to test your gaming ability with Speed Match.

Benefits of this Game

Thinking faster
Faster reaction time
Speeding up cognitive processes
Keep up with a fast-paced work environment

How to Play

A symbol appears on the screen. There are three different groups of symbols. Kanji, Circles, and Shapes. Each group has three unique symbols. Speed Match will choose a random group for each session of play.
Remember each new symbol that appears.
Compare the symbol with the symbol that appeared immediately before it. Do they match?
Respond with the keyboard. Pressing the left arrow key means “No.” and the right arrow key means “Yes.” The player is advised to avoid using the mouse to click on the Yes/No arrows.
Answer as quickly as possible because the session is timed to 45 seconds.
Do not make any mistakes because the score is calculated based on how many correct responses you get in a row. If you make a mistake while answering, your scoring multiplier starts over.

Tips by Users

“It's better to be correct than fast. If you answer correctly several time in a row, you'll activate a multiplier!” by dav
“I find that I am able to indicate matches faster than non-matches. To be more accurate, and to get the highest score, I give myself just a bit more time when indicating a non-match.” by icaruspassion
“Mute makes it easier, but maximum benefit is achieved if you can block out distractions through focus rather than making it easier for yourself. Performing tasks well in stressful situations is far more useful for when the skills exercised are applied in real life.” by ArkX
“Always think ahead to what the next shape should be.” by jatmillsinc
“Try thinking or saying "yes" when the shape matches and "no" when it doesn't. This improved my score by 1000 points on average!” by katetev
“When you make an error, slow down, and then slowly pick up speed again. Recovering quickly from making an error is very important.” by n080di
“Use the arrows, rather than a mouse or trackpad, for more speed and a better score.” by jbschlubach
“I found myself subconsciously trying to find patterns in the presentation of shapes while playing the game. There aren't any patterns, so if you find yourself doing this and are at risk of making an error, take a moment to clear your head.” by zacholas321
“Some people are better with the chinese characters, and some people are better with the solid shapes or the rings. Keep playing Speed Match until you've seen all three variations and see which you like the best!” by bbertoldo
“Consider the right key to be 'repeat' and left to be 'next'. It's easier to think of them this way quickly and accurately.” by gressettd
“Don't get excited when you feel you're doing well or getting a lot of points. If you lose focus, you'll get thrown off. Concentrate on staying accurate at first and slowly build up your speed.” by Crispy91
“Try using the left hand for the left arrow and the right hand for the right arrow. You might find that, like me, you're much faster playing this way.” by tankgirl_oz
“Focus on the shapes or symbols rather than your score or the amount of time left.” by weatherman20

Lumosity: Daily training and review Nov 27 2012

2012-11-27T17:42:00.004-08:00

Got a couple of high scores today. The amount of brain games that Lumosity has, it is dificult to really master all of them in a short amount of time. It really requires weeks and months to get to all the games.

Each day has me attempt 5 different games. There is no winning or losing. The games are designed to flex your mental muscles, and that doesn't always mean a top score, sometimes you just have to grind them out. I've found it's good to skip a few days when you start getting burnt out.

I tried playing the other day and just was not into it. My BPI dropped 10 points just from, what seemed to me, a minor mood swing. At least I can tell when my brain is running smoothly and when it is really clouded. I definitely agree with Lumosity that social interaction can greatly improve brain function. It definitely elevated my mood and caused me to be extremely motivated and focused. It is unfortunate that those types of social interactions rarely ever happen for me. Only once every decade or so, like a meteor shower.

Check out my Rhyme Workout score. Under 1000 milliseconds. Almost 100% accuracy and over 100 correct.

Beat my top score. This is one of the games I was referring to. I can easily beat these scores if I tried a little harder.

Time to go, check out the video to see more of what Lumosity can do to improve your brain through the use of innovative brain games designed by experts in neuro science.

Lumosity : Eagle Eye review with tips and tricks

2012-11-26T16:33:00.001-08:00

Eagle Eye

Category: Attention Games

When we pay attention to our surroundings, we discover a whole world full of details we may not have noticed –our lives depend on our brain’s capability to absorb and process information as quickly as possible. We could not safely accomplish many of our daily tasks without being able to focus on more than one thing simultaneously.

When you are driving, you need to pay attention to the road conditions, all the cars around you, and any potential problems that may suddenly appear in front of us. The ability to focus on different things across a large visual field is a main factor in determining whether or not we can spot the problem early and be able to make a decision in time to physically react.

The older we get, the worse our visual attention becomes due to changes in the brain. These changes make it harder for us to see objects anywhere but directly in front of us. Even though our visual ability has been proven to degrade with age, the process can be reversed through the use of Lumosity’s specially designed brain fitness training program.

Eagle Eye is one of the funnest games on Lumosity. It mimics the popular First Person Shooter genre, but instead of a gun, the player takes pictures. Both require the same amount of accuracy. Eagle Eye flashes one of five numbers in the middle of the screen while at the same time a bird briefly pops in somewhere along the edge of the screen. The difficulty increases the better the player does. The birds move farther out and do not appear on screen for as long. During the more difficult levels, the birds are there no longer than a flash of lightning. Because the game adapts to your skill level, your brain’s abilities stretched so that you gradually enhance the amount of information you can take in every second.

Benefits of this Game

Wider peripheral vision
Improved sports abilities
Driving safely by avoiding accidents and obstacles

You might be thinking, “I want to get home quickly in busy traffic.”

How to Play:

A bird and number will flash on screen. You must click where the bird was and pick the number you saw. If you’re right a bird, you add a piece to your bird pic. Complete a bird pic to add it to your bird journal.

Tips by Users:

“keep your eyes focused on the square where the number will appear. You can see the location of the bird out of the corner of your eye with unexpected accuracy.” by dragonfl13

“Using your peripheral vision compare the bird to the location it is in its surroundings. (Ex: If it is remember that it is next to a branch on the right corner if it is a tree surrounding)” by slkspring

Nov 25 2012 My Daily Lumosity Training

2012-11-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

It's late, the video is rough but the concept is sound.

Nov 23 Lumosity brain game daily training videos

2012-11-23T10:59:00.000-08:00

I only did ok. Since I did so much work recording, I am not going to type much.

Did OK at Rotation Matrix with a score around 17000.

Playing Koi, so close and yet so far.

Got a Top 5 score.

Nov 22 2012 Thanksgiving training videos.

2012-11-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

I had a good phone conversation this morning and it got me really inspired to play well. I recorded a few videos of me playing.

Rotation Matrix with a score of 17095

Rhyme Workout 30600

Brain Shift Overdrive 5475

Booyah!

This is how I spend some of my free time, molding my brain using the concept of neuro plasticity by playing video games on Lumosity.com.

What do you need to get better? Practice, practice, practice. Teach yourself how to play. Learn how to learn. These are problem solving logic puzzles.

You decide how to get better. Have you ever been good at anything? Truly good? Competitive? Do you take things all the way? Do you take them to the next level?

That's what I'm trying to do with Lumosity. Now I look to apply this sort of problem solving to other things like music and exercise.

Lumosity BPI a good measuring stick of how I feel

2012-11-20T09:04:00.001-08:00

The better I'm feeling, the better I do at Lumosity. I find that brain games can help to elevate mood sometimes, but it can also make it worse. When I'm doing poorly I get upset or depressed. It is difficult to do well all the time. I don't always have the energy or drive to push through and maintain or raise my BPI.

Today it went down. I can't do really good every single time, eventually you level off and the improvement is minuscule. My problem is I still have a lot of room for improvement in some games and not much in others. The improvement can come in raising my daily averages so that I'm always hitting my top scores.

But, Lumosity is a good barometer of where I'm at. I was feeling like junk this morning, really depressed. I didn't want to do anything. Writing this blog is what is getting me out of my funk. I feel better now. I feel like I accomplished something.

I have more drive and motivation now. If I wanted to, I could go to Lumosity and raise my scores up because I'm feeling a little better but that would be a waste of my energy, I'd rather go try and get work or go hiking. I think I'll go take a shower now and head out. I really need to change up my routine.

Cross training is really important. Being fulfilled mentally, physically, spiritually, and so on is very important. Lumosity's Brain Grade was a great idea. It should have been expanded and broken down into daily questionnaires or something to really get an idea of where a person is at.

Playing Lumosity improves your ability to perform tasks outside of Lumosity, things like memory, attention, and overall learning ability are improved.

In the same vein, performing tasks outside of Lumosity improves my reflexes and other abilities. Learning new school subjects, musical instruments, and any other task that causes you to think differently and solve problems.

Lumosity gives me the ability to see if I am improving. All of the schooling, hiking, guitar playing, rehab, and so on has caused my Lumosity scores to rise in most areas, although in some I am still not as good as I was a year ago. So maybe I have hit certain plateaus, but I have a lot of improvement in other areas.

If I get really good at brain games, I'll just try to transfer this ability over to real life. It is difficult. Idiots hate smart people. Ugly people hate good looking people. Nerds hate cool people.

It's like when the best people on those survival game shows get voted off. They get voted off by the mediocre contestants that all band together because they know they would all lose unless they gang up.

My life has been one big nightmare because I'm surrounded by idiots who refuse to hear anyone but themselves and their little circle of sycophants.

Being a bully doesn't make you guys special. Ganging up on someone doesn't make you special. Neither does lying or cheating.

I pray there's a God out there, because none of this would make sense if it weren't a test. Can people really be rewarded for lying, cheating, and stealing and all other types of horrible deeds?

Is there any reward for trying to be a good person besides getting shit on by everyone else. People who seem so completely opposite of me in every way.

I know if I were God I'd wipe out every thing on this planet. I see the occasional flower or diamond in the rough, being choked and crushed out by all the ugly weeds and dirt that seek to suffocate it.

An invasive species is not superior, it is just adapted differently. An invasive species will kill everything around it, all the diversity and beauty, and leave behind ugliness and conformity.

It is horrible and this world is being consumed by the same march towards total dysfunction.

The worse you are, the more you get rewarded.

What is Plasticity?

2012-11-18T05:28:00.000-08:00

What is plasticity?

From Dictionary.com:

plas-tic-i-ty [pla-stis-i-tee]

“2. the capability of being molded, receiving shape, or being made to assume a desired form: the plasticity of social institutions; the great plasticity of clay.

Example Sentences:

Normally that plasticity peaks in the first several months of life, but at different times for different skills.
Scientists are searching for ways to both boost and focus this innate plasticity, thus improving neural repair.
The plasticity of the brain provides life-course opportunities for resilience and enhanced mental health.
The story of reading’s development is a complex tale of equal parts human invention and neural plasticity.

Origin: 1775-85; plastic + -ity

Plastic [plas-tik]

Noun

Often, plastics, any of a group of synthetic or natural organic materials that may be shaped when soft and then hardened, including many types of resins, resinoids, polymers, cellulose derivatives, casein materials, and proteins: used in place of other materials, as glass, wood, and metals, in construction and decoration, for making many articles, as coatings, and, drawn into filaments, for weaving. They are often known by trademark names, as Bakelite, Vinylite, or Lucite.

Adjective

capable of being molded or of receiving form: clay and other plastic substances.

having the power of molding or shaping formless or yielding material: the plastic forces of nature.

being able to create, especially within an art form; having the power to give form or formal expression: the

plastic imagination of great poets and composers.

Origin: 1625-35; 1900-10 for def. 1; < Latin plasticus that may be molded < Greek plastikos. See –plast, -ic

Related forms

Adverbs: Plastically, plasticly.

Noun and Adjective: nonplastic

Adjective: unplastic

Synonyms: pliant, flexible, amenable”

Plastikos

From WordAZ
“the word plastic is derived from the greek πλαστικός (plastikos) meaning capable of being shaped or molded, from πλαστός (plastos)”

Plastika (Wiktionary.org / Plastika)

From Latin plasticus (“of molding”), from Ancient Greek πλαστικός (plastikos) (this entry does not exist), from πλάσσω (plassō, “I mold, form”).

Ancient Greek

πλάσσω (plassō, “I mold, form”).

Alternative Forms: πλάττω (plattō) (Attic Greek)

From Wiktionary.org, “Attic Greek is the prestige dialect of Ancient Greek that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. Of the ancient dialects, it is the most similar to later Greek, and is the standard form of the language studied in courses of "Ancient Greek". It is sometimes included in Ionic.”

Etymology: Uncertain. Seems to come from * πλάθιω.

Pronunciation:

Ancient Greek phonology is the study of the phonology, or pronunciation, of Ancient Greek. Because of the passage of time, the original pronunciation of Ancient Greek, like that of all ancient languages, can never be known with absolute certainty. Linguistic reconstructions have been widely debated in the past; however, a good approximation can be established and there is now a consensus in scholarship.

(5th BC Attic): IPA: /plás̚sɔ͜ɔ/

πλάσσω (plassō) future: πλάσω aorist: ἔπλασα perfect: πέπλακα aorist passive: ἐπλάσθην

1. I form, mould, shape, sculpt

2. I fabricate, forge

3. I plaster

4. I form in the mind, imagine

5. I re-form, put in a different manner

Nov 16 2012 BPI 1553

2012-11-16T07:57:00.000-08:00

Used my daily training to get my BPI up from 1550 to 1553. Sure, it took an hour and a half, but it's better than watching television.

+++

Memory Lane

First game was Memory Lane, a game that I haven't even unlocked all the levels yet.

I made a video of me playing so that you can see that the games require repetition. You don't start off good.

All I'm looking for is gradual improvement.

Even if the improvement is only manifesting itself inwardly.

The more I play, the more comfortable I get with each game.

It is natural for your brain to learn by building new pathways and in turn your score increases. This is a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly commitment.

I think getting 5 top scores is enough practice for today at Memory Match. That game is a little tedious at times.

+++

Brain Shift Overdrive

This game only takes about a minute to play.

I took kusalagupagu's advice and had some coffee.

Coffee ftw! My scores continued to increase as I got more comfortable.

When I start doing good, sometimes I try too hard and make mistakes.

Bam, hit the basement.

I followed khai88's advice not to panic and relax.

Actually my brain hard wires itself for this game and messes me up for Brain Shift since the arrangement is different than Brain Shift Overdrive.

Ugh. Gotta dig myself out of this hole.

Rawr! I can do better!

One answer away from my top score!

My average is a lot better than when I started at 4425.

Back down to my beginning average.

Focusing, relaxing, and trying to have fun.

The fun comes after a lot of hard work! 5075! I got three or four top scores, I think that is enough Brain Shift Overdrive for today.

Okay, one more for good measure. Tied my best score of 5175 with a lot of room for improvement. Still at 1431 BPI.

+++

Rhyme Workout

I love getting awards and being congratulated when doing something well. I wish there were more of these silly awards and achievements. For what Lumosity has, it really is lacking in so much for the amount of money they have to play with. They should hire some real game developers who could really increase their player base.

I like having my reaction time and accuracy stats being made available.

I thought since I got a top five score, as well as being over 1500, that I could continue on since I already spent over an hour on the last two games.

+++

Route to Sprout

This game is all about the luck of the draw. If you get the 23 move level, you'll never get a high score. Keep playing until you get 5 easy maps.

Booyah, besides that 11 move one, I was close to getting my top score. Need to increase the 1460 and 1450 by 5 points.

Yes! Got my score above 1500, my goal with all the games. Keep playing everyday!

+++

Eagle Eye

I started off weak. I don't want to drop below 1600, so I came back with a fury.

Oh man, my best score of 15107 and a BPI of 1667. I wish I had been recording. I hit like five Eagle Eyes.

This game is a lot of fun. It is easier on my 15 inch CRT monitor than a large flat screen. :o

+++

Training Complete!

Trainings done, dude!

Look at that, two personal bests and three top five scores. I ended up with like +14 Lumosity points.

BPI 1553

I also just got this at 5:00pm today. 3480 at Word Bubbles.

Eagle Eye 14751 / Eagle Eye BPI 1651

2012-11-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

This is a log of my daily training on Lumosity.com.

There are two videos in this blog with an Eagle Eye video at the very end.

Lumosity has me play 5 games a day to fulfill a daily training regimen. It takes about 15 minutes to complete, or longer if you want to really improve your brain power.

I got a top 5 score at Playing Koi, so I decided to move on, especially since that game is so frustrating and tedious. It hurts my brain to focus on so many moving objects. I guess this is one game I really need to work on because I am scoring in the top five of my history but am still going down in overall BPI. I need to get at least 1500. Mental note!

I was really disappointed with my score at Rotation Matrix and decided to show you guys how to improve.

Repetition! I'm getting pumped up!

Repetition! I feel like I'm on the verge of a breakthrough!

Leveled out? I'm only one block away from getting a good score.

Oh no, a pretty big drop in points.

Free falling, yes I'm free falling...

Can't give up! After the first few games, I had developed enough momentum to carry me through these bad times until I could have that breakthrough moment.

And eventually I get pumped up enough to break that ceiling with a Rotation Matrix score of 16945, not far from my 2nd and 3rd highest scores but half of my top score. I have a lot of room to improve. The improvement comes in bits and pieces. Imagine if I improved this much every day? I can't but I can improve a little if I try hard enough.

+++

Didn't do too bad with 220 coins at Moneycomb, so I decided to move on.

My Brain Shift Overdrive score was sort of weak, so I decided to improve my score.

It took some grinding.

You have to warm up.

Get ready!

Nothing's ever gonna bring me down!

Break that ceiling! Rawr!

+++

WIth a BPI above 1600 for Eagle Eye, I decided I needed to keep my skills honed to a razors edge.

Nov 14 2012 Daily Training, BPI down

2012-11-14T08:31:00.000-08:00

My first game was Rhyme Workout, a game I'm still rusty at. I might concentrate on this game today.

Getting a good score on Route to Sprout has a big deal to do with luck. I decided to take these following screen shots as an example.

5 moves and a score of 1475.

I knew that if I got a lucky draw, I would be able to get a good score. That means the puzzles can only have about 5 to 8 moves.

6 moves and a score of 1470.

Here they threw me a curve ball with a 13 move puzzle. I was knocked down to 1425. If this puzzle had been easier, I would have beaten my best score. It could have been the one with 23 moves.

I think this one was around 8 moves for a score of 1450.

Another puzzle with a low amount of moves. Got lucky.

The scores correlate to the number of moves made. The scores should scale depending on how many moves need to be made, otherwise it is a crap shoot to get a good score. If I need to make 23 moves, I should be given some sort of time allowance so I can still score 1475 somehow.

I knew if I got a lucky draw of puzzles that I would do well. It is a matter of playing this game a lot to get used to the puzzles and to get a lucky selection of puzzles with easy solutions.

Playing Koi was uneventful. I usually get about 3/5 rounds perfect and I think I did the same today. I do fine with 7 and 8 Koi, but when it kicks me up to 9 I can't handle it. Yet.

I have so much improvement still in the Memory Lane game that I score a new Personal Best every time I play. There is still a lot to this game I have not seen unlike 95% of the other games.

My score is still in the 1200's so I know there is a lot of room for improvement.

Still a few more levels to unlock. Maybe I'll play this one today also.

Maybe I should play all of these until I get my individual game BPI's up.

Two personal records out of five games. But three of the games I did worse. I am out of practice with those games and need to focus on fine tuning my skills.

BPI is down to 1544 from a high of around 1548.

Time to work on everything except Problem Solving.

BPI Slipping But I'm Not Trippin'

2012-11-12T11:17:00.001-08:00

BPI Slipping But I'm Not Tripping!

I noticed my BPI had been slipping, so I decided to see where I needed the help.

My Attention needs the most help, offset by my gains in Problem Solving. I hope my gains in Problem Solving do not go away as I focus on bringing my Attention score up.

Here are the two best games I played out of four. Even at 6650, I am not close to my best scores. It may seem that way but in reality I am only seperated by a few tenths of a millisecond on every answer.

I'm learning to stay relaxed and at a normal pace where I am not making any mistakes. If I stay at this pace and not rush forward in an attempt to get more points, my speed will slowly increase without trying.

Keep Playing Your Brain Games

It doesn't happen in a few sessions or even overnight, although you may see significant gains after sleeping, it takes days and weeks of practice and cross training. Not to mention things outside of Lumosity, like stress, exercise, diet, and so on that contribute to how well you do.

All I'm doing is looking to improve or hit my averages, not beat my best scores. That will happen without me even knowing it.

The brain will naturally speed up but you'll feel like you're just doing your thing at an average speed. But you have to stay consistent and practice daily. Even a little is better than nothing.

And are you practicing correctly. You need to check yourself and figure out what you're doing wrong. Most mistakes can be attributed to rushing too fast.

I probably played about 20 games of Birdwatch until I got my BPI up some.

All that work paid off. I was able to get my BPI back up to 1548.

I was checking to see if I lost some ability with the games I had previously trained with to improve. Mostly the math games in the Problem Solving group.

Still going pretty strong!

Lumosity progress Nov 9 2012

2012-11-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

Eagle Eye was my one bright spot during my daily training. I'm proud of anything over 1600. I got a new personal best and I wasn't even trying. It is a matter of getting as close to the bullseye as possible without missing any numbers or birds. I even missed one bird at the end of the bonus round.

After daily training, I decided to work on my weakest area, my Speed games. Improved Rotation Matrix by a few dozen points.

I don't have much time this morning to write this blog.

I am slowly improving my Speed Matrix score. My best is around 10400 so I have a lot of improvement ahead of me.

Practiced my Spatial Speed Match a little to raise my overall BPI. I'll have to focus on the Speed catagory more.

Mission accomplished, BPI is now above my 4 week best. Now I just have to work on my all time best of 1551.

BPI Back to 1540

2012-11-06T06:40:00.001-08:00

My goal was to reverse my previous decent into Lumosity madness. The ship has been righted and good thing too, because I was feeling a lot dumber!

From a horrendous BPI of 1523 on November 4th 2012 with Speed and Problem Solving dozens of points below 1500.

So I decided I needed to improve.

I went to work on my Problem Solving BPI first. I was able to get my Top 2 best score of 19250 for Chalkboard Challenge and raise the overall BPI of this game to 1471.

Went loco on Subtraction Storm and got a New Personal Best of 24729, but it only raised my Game BPI by 3 points, what the heck!?

Rocked the casbah on Word Sort and boosted my Game BPI to 1550 and got four top five scores.

The Problem Solving category which is comprised of Word Sort and the group of math games now has an average BPI above 1500. By November 5th my overall BPI was up to 1536.

Today, November 6th 2012. 6:30am.

Started off strong with new personal bests in Eagle Eye and Playing Koi, raising both of their Game BPIs. Then I dropped off for Brain Shift, Rotation Matrix, and Rhyme Workout, all games I am not familiar with. I'll have to put those on my list of games to improve at.

Tried out the new Pinball Recall game. I like it a lot.

Got my second best score ever of 1888 with Observation Tower.

Finally got my Speed Match BPI over 1500, requiring scores of 9440 and above.

To finish with an overall BPI of 1540.

Good Job Kus!

Lumosity BPI drops to 1523

2012-11-04T01:23:00.000-07:00

November 4th, 2012, 1:22am.

I went to sleep around 5pm and just woke up.

+++

I'm glad to see I am still in the 99th percentile. I wish I would win something for this other than a solitary pat on the back.

99.4. There's still 00.6 room for improvement!

Definitely need to work on my Speed and Problem Solving.

My downward spiral. A BPI of 1547 to 1523. I have proof that I hit 1551.

In general, I hit the 1500s and stayed around there. After I learned the games, it seems I've leveled out and have not improved much. I wonder if I was really at 900 in real life or just at these Lumosity games. I pray this carries over to real life.

As I said in a previous post. Maybe Lumosity helps you sharpen and improve your abilities, but it is also a good measuring stick of your overall intelligence.

I was born with a naturally high IQ. I was highly gifted. I already knew I was a smart. I answer first in class and can get A's easily if I just applied myself.

I am very lazy and readily quit if people give me a hassle.

I will update this post with my progress.

+++

It was tough. I played about a dozen or more games of Raindrops. I started with a score of 12000 and went as high as 16000. I averaged about 13000 and raised my overall BPI one point!

My best score is 23057 so I'm not even close. I'm surprised at myself that I could do that good but can't do it now. I'm not sure why I was better before. I'm working my way back up. I had good improvement today, but it isn't a one day thing. I have to do this over many days and hopefully see gradual improvement.

It takes a lot of playing to really find your groove. It is really up to you to see what it is that you're doing wrong. I have trouble keeping fully focused. I can't play casually, I need to really concentrate if I want to do well and improve. Otherwise I will stay the same.

I wish there were individual stats for each game on Lumosity.

+++

Took another nap and woke up again on November 4th 2012 at about 9:00am after going to sleep around 6:00am.

First attempt at Raindrops almost passed the 20000 mark.

William Kus got a New Top 5 Score at Raindrops!

BPI rises one point to 1525 and I've stopped my BPI's decent on the chart. Now I'm trying to make the graph line start moving up.

Most likely, it is just a lot of work just to maintain a steady line. Lumosity should incorporate BPI decay if a person doesn't play every day. It would be more realistic and would encourage people to play every day.

My real problem is Chalkboard Challenge. I really hate it right now.

I don't know how I ever got 20000 back in 2011.

If you like Word Games you'll love Word Bubbles

2012-11-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

If you like Word Games you’ll Love Word Bubbles.

Word Bubbles is a free brain game on Lumosity.com in the category of Flexibility Games that improve your verbal fluency. If you are a veteran of the game, I have provided a comprehensive list of tips and tricks. If you are a beginner, I will be providing a complete rundown of what Word Bubbles is and a little bit about Lumosity.com.

Why should I play Word Bubbles?

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. -Henry Ford

Some of the tangible benefits of this game are improved language skills, remembering words from a long time ago, tip-of-the-tongue word finding, testing the breadth of your crystallized knowledge, thinking outside the box by finding new and different variations of words you knew or just learned as well as increasing your articles of articulation.

People love crosswords, Scrabble, trivia, and other brainy games that test and exercise your crystallized knowledge and Word Bubbles is a fine example, if not one of the best free word games around. Not only is it fun, but it allows you to track your progress and see if you can improve. That’s really the great part is to track your improvement at that game and in the Flexibility training area that the game corresponds to.

Instructions on how to play Word Bubbles:

Word Bubbles in action!

In each round, you’ll be given a three letter stem like “pun-“. Guess words that begin with those letters. The word length determines which bubble moves up.

The challenge is to enter three words of the same length to raise the bubble out of the water. For example: punishes (8 letters), punished (8 letters), and punisher (8 letters). A fourth word of the same length will not be accepted. Complete as many word lengths as you can.

Word Bubbles is fun!

If you really want to get good, you'll study these 37 user submitted tips and tricks:

“Use your dictionary after you have finished the day incase you get the same letters again.” by rubystar
“Active reading, such as texts, novel and newspapers, builds greater word vocabulary and better scores.” by CoolCat
“At first I used to focus on many words or long words, but I get higher scores when I focus on groups of words of the same length to get the bubble to the top.” by daysky
“Once you have found a word, try adding common word endings like ‘s’ and ‘er’ to get even more words of different lengths.” by dave
“Using a dictionary after your game helps spur learning for the next one.” by cello46
“Press the Tab key to put the last word in the guess box!” by katzben
“If you’re stuck, type one letter and see if the four-letter combination triggers any new words, and so on…” by arbiter
“Try compound words – coalhole, steamship.” by jackofyork
“You get more points for bubbles when they are rising the second and third time, thus work on getting bubbles to the top before getting all bubbles out of the water.” by jbrain
“The word root isn’t necessarily the first full syllable of potential words.” by tylluan
“Hit the down arrow key after you enter a word in order to quickly add other endings to that word.” by Kunal
“Try to go through the whole alphabet to think of different ending phrases (ing, ed, etc.).” by briandonnelly
“Consider using ‘or” and ‘our’ as in ‘favor’ and ‘favour’.” by momcat2729
“Try adding ‘ness’ and ‘nesses’ and ‘ive’.” by MVH1
“The word length determines which bubble moves up.” by briandonnelly
“Virtually every word that has a suffix of ‘ness’ can also have a suffix of ‘nesses’” by leonorris
“Shoot for verbs. Conjugations and tenses add up quickly.” by greggdale
“Suffixes are key. Don’t forget about tion(s), ness(es), or ization(s/al).” by BeaverWhirled
“See if the first two letters of the three are a prefix to expand your thinking. e.g. un-c” by digasper
“If you haven’t filled up the ‘4’ letter star and have run out of words, just hit random keys…” by susannahmp
“Each bubble is worth 30 points for the first word, 60 points for the second, and 90 points for the third word. Lengthy words aren’t worth any more points than short ones.” by BeaverWhirled
“I find it’s easier to type the longest words first.” by Tark
“Alternate spellings like defence, realize.” by sjlogan
“If you get stumped try running through each vowel at the end of the sequence. That usually jogs the vocabulary.” by catjenkins
“Get as many bubbles out of the water as you can to score the most points.” by jduyan
“Include British and American spelling (‘ize’ and ‘ise’, ‘honour’ and ‘honor’ etc.)” by sangacharity
“Think of different pronounciations o f the first three letters. If the letters are ‘pin’, you might find yourself thinking only of words with short i sounds.” by sammukht
“Studying Scrabble dictionary list of small uncommon words helps.” by dav
“The endings ‘or’ and ‘our’ for example in ‘color’ and ‘colour’ give more opportunities to gain easy points!” by ozzibear
“You get the most band out of verbs, going through verb tenses first, then to variations of the word in a similar sequence each time - -s, -ed, -ing, -ingly, -er, -ers, -ation, -ations, -ationally, etc.” by carollarsen
“Verbs are your friends, ‘cause they often have so many possible endings: s, ed, ing, ings, er, ers.” by mourningdove
Keep an eye out for major prefixes. Latin roots are your friends. And the three-letter sequences ‘pro-‘, ‘pre-‘, and ‘vis-‘ will yield dozens of word combinations.” by ms_phishy
“Whenever you use a word that ends with ‘ness’ you can always add ‘es’ to it. Sometimes I try it when I’m almost positive it won’t be a word, and to my surprise, it is. Great way to rack up extra points.” by mariecolmer
“Don’t waste time trying to remember the correct spelling of a difficult word.” by jpberry
“When I get stuck on a word, I find that sounding it out helps a bunch.” by sandandbeaches_1
“The game is all about the stars. Finish the simplest form of the words first, then move on to longer more complex words.” by geonerd
“The greatest suffix of them all is –ize.” by JustynTyme

How do I improve my Vocabulary?

I use scrabblefinder.com as a tool to find words after the game is over (or during the game.) My score improved a little by having a second window open with scrabblefinder ready for action. I experimented with it and it did not seem to give me a much better score than to do it by pure memory. Having it open did allow me to look up words while they were still fresh in my mind.

My own tips:

My score improved when I focused on getting as many different variations of a single word as possible. Instead of getting many different words, I try and get as many variations on three or four words.
Have a second person looking up words on another machine while you are typing.
Make a list of all the endings you could use have it taped up somewhere close by.

Why you should spend the money on a subscription to Lumosity.com?

If you like Word Bubbles at all, Word Bubbles Rising is like Word Bubbles on steroids with a shot of Flavor Country thrown in for good measure. Word Bubbles Rising is only available for subscription Lumosity.com users.

Imagine that you pay $60 for a new video game that doesn’t really last that long. For about the same price you get a years worth of really fun games that are meant to stimulate and improve your everyday ability to think and function using your brain. Think of it as another tool in your arsenal of video games. If you want to get better at any of your current video games, this will definitely help you zero in on areas you may be a little weak in and then help you improve on those very areas.

Lumosity is worth the yearly subscription and it really takes that long to get used to the games and see the subtle and sometimes not so subtle benefits. Lumosity can improve your memory and attention and the speed and flexibility of your brain when solving problems. It can give you better reflexes when you drive and make it easier to remember someone’s name after you have just met them for the first time. These are just a few of the benefits that come with a yearly subscription.

I am by no means rich and I do not waste money. But Lumosity is worth the money at around $5-$14 a month depending on your subscription rate. That’s why I suggest the yearly rate because you get it at about half price or less. You pay money at the gym and maybe you never go because it is hard to do. A Lumosity membership is a gym for the brain and can be done on your lunch break or other downtime. Instead of wasting your time on regular video games, why not try one that is proven to help those with very serious problems caused by old age or traumatic injuries and stress?

Click on the big flashing button to order a subscription!!! Do it for your brain, it really loves you, love it back!

Improving Word Bubbles for Lumosity

2012-10-30T06:45:00.002-07:00

Description:
Word Bubbles is designed to train and improve your processing speed. It targets verbal fluency by training you to think flexibly and creatively to come up with words.

Area of Cognition:
Processing Speed, Verbal Fluency

Used For:
Language
Tip-of-the-tongue word finding
Thinking outside the box

Everyday Example:
"I want to be more articulate."

Instructions:

In each round, you're given a three letter prefix like "con-" or "sym-".

I don't get a lot of improvement when I play Word Bubbles. After playing, I get upset that I can't seem to improve at all. In fact I get worse. I don't know how I got my original scores.

If I were Lumosity, I would create a game that would actually improve your crystallized memory as you played.

There are a number of ways to do this.

1. If you don't get the word in 5 seconds, a word is suggested for you, or a letter is filled in.

2. Have the user play the same word over and over until they get it perfect. If that isn't possible, then what's the point of the game.

3. At the end of the round, show some words that could have been used.

The point is, to improve the user's word knowledge, not just frustrate them.