Lumosity.com Brings Intelligence Training to the Web

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Lumosity.com announces the launch of a powerful new game shown to improve intelligence. Working closely with the scientists who made the original discovery, Lumosity.com has developed an online version of the intelligence training program Dual N-Back. This new game will be available to the more than 1.5 million registered members at Lumosity.com, and it can be used by those interested in improving their intelligence.

The Dual N-Back game improves intelligence and memory capacity by challenging users to simultaneously remember items that they see and hear. Susanne Jaeggi, Martin Buschkuehl, and John Jonides at the University of Michigan, and Walter Perrig at the University of Bern (Switzerland) recently reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that training on the Dual N-Back task resulted in gains in working memory and fluid intelligence that were significantly greater than those seen in the control group.

These findings shattered the long-held belief in the neuroscience community that intelligence cannot be improved. This research also showed that the more subjects trained, the more their fluid intelligence improved.

The Lumosity.com version of Dual N-Back replicates the training previously used in the lab while making it available online. The program will be used to facilitate further research in memory and intelligence training, with the Lumosity Research Platform supporting data collection and study administration.

"The online availability of the dual n-back task is a great step forward for our ongoing research and we are happy having found Lumos Labs as a competent partner," says Dr. Buschkuehl.

"We're excited to facilitate their research, and also to offer this powerful intelligence training on Lumosity.com," said Michael Scanlon, Chief Science Officer at Lumos Labs.

The researchers are now recruiting healthy 18-35 year-old volunteers to participate in the ongoing study. Participants must be able to travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan for testing. Learn more: http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/smartbrain

The intelligence training program is freely available for a limited time at http://www.lumosity.com/training_applications/dual-n-back

About Lumos Labs, Inc.

Lumos Labs is the cognitive neuroscience company behind Lumosity.com, the leader and #1 destination for healthy online gaming with over 1.5 million members. The programs are backed by studies showing that Lumosity training can enhance brain performance in areas such as memory, attention, fluid intelligence, and academic performance. The brain games are also broadly available to users on third-party platforms including the iPhone, Palm Pre, Yahoo! and Facebook. For more information on Lumos Labs, visit www.lumosity.com.

About University of Michigan's Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab

The Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab at the University of Michigan is headed by John Jonides, PhD and mainly concerned with research about attention and memory processes. A main focus of research is the development of cognitive training paradigms that not only promote improvements in the trained task but also in tasks that were not part of the training. For more information on the University of Michigan's Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab, visit www.jonideslab.com.