Lumosity

Lumosity is a brain training app from Lumos Labs that turns tasks adapted from cognitive science labs into short games. Its site says it has been running for 20 years and counts 120 million members, and it describes itself as the most popular brain training program.

The games target skills such as memory, attention, flexibility and problem solving. Each day brings a fresh set of games, and the app adapts to your strengths and weaknesses whatever your age or skill level. Lumosity interprets your scores to give feedback and insight into your cognition, and progress tracking is meant to help you keep a daily habit.

Lumosity publishes a summary of its own research on its home page. Lumos Labs ran a randomized study and published it in a peer reviewed journal: of the 4,715 participants who completed the study, half trained on Lumosity for 15 minutes a day, five days a week, while the other half did online crossword puzzles as an active control. After 10 weeks, the Lumosity group improved more than the control group on the company's assessments of working memory, short term memory, processing speed, problem solving, fluid reasoning and overall cognitive function.

The company is open about the limits. It says more research is needed to connect better assessment scores to everyday tasks, and that future work should address possible experimenter bias and attrition bias, since both groups lost about half their participants. It also notes the general risk of publication bias.

How to read it on TrueIQ: Lumosity is a training product, and the study above measures gains on the company's own assessments. That is useful evidence about the games, not a clinical or IQ measurement. Compare it with BrainHQ, the other brain training program in this category, and with research grade tools such as CANTAB if you need validated measurement. Pricing and plan details are on the Lumosity site.