Brain training apps — to buy or not to buy?

Brain training apps — can they really help improve memory? Problem solving? Forestall dementia? Not according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). On January 4, Lumo Labs, makers of the popular Lumosity app, agreed to modify its marketing tactics to no long make such grandiose claims.

Brain training apps — the claims

If you’ve ever seen or heard a Lumosity ad, you’ll recall they claim those who play the games improve their cognition, problem solving, and more. In general, the brain training apps claim people can improve their mental health by simply playing a game.

Brain training apps —the Lumosity settlement

In their announcement of the settlement, the FTC said, “…the defendants claimed training with Lumosity would 1) improve performance on everyday tasks, in school, at work, and in athletics; 2) delay age-related cognitive decline and protect against mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease; and 3) reduce cognitive impairment associated with health conditions, including stroke, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, ADHD, the side effects of chemotherapy, and Turner syndrome, and that scientific studies proved these benefits.”

Those allegations resulted in a $2 million settlement and an agreement to no longer make claims that cannot be substantiated by science. So, what happened?

Brain training apps — the settlement results

According to the agreement between Lumo Labs and the FTC, “…the disclosure must be made through the same means through which the communication is presented. In any communication made through both visual and audible means, such as a television advertisement, the disclosure must be presented simultaneously in both the visual and audible portions of the communication, even if the representation requiring the disclosure is made in only one means.”

…consider testing the free version before shelling out money for a monthly or annual subscription.

Here’s the closest thing I could find to a disclaimer on Lumosity.com as of January 9, 2016. These statements refer to “a randomized study on Lumosity, using crossword puzzles as an active control.”

“Our scientists had 4,715 participants complete the study. Half trained with Lumosity, while the rest did online crossword puzzles to control for placebo effects. After 10 weeks, the Lumosity group improved more than the crosswords group on an aggregate assessment of cognition. These results are promising, but we need to do more research to determine the connection between improved assessment scores and everyday tasks in participants’ lives. That’s our next focus.”

What to do about brain training apps

Turning a disclosure into a statement of promising results is sheer marketing genius. The problem is, for someone worried about cognitive decline, these statements may offer misleading results. In a poll conducted on SiteJabber.com, 113 of 161 reviewers gave the program only one or two stars. For those wanting to try out brain training apps, consider testing the free version before shelling out money for a monthly or annual subscription. If you decide the program doesn’t work for you, you’re only out time, not hard-earned dollars.