Lumosity Settles Suit Alleging Deceptive Advertising Practices

The Federal Trade Commission announced this week that Lumos Labs, the creator and marketer of Lumosity, a well-known brain-training program, had agreed to settle charges. The FTC claimed that Lumos Labs overstated the science behind its claims that using Lumosity would prevent memory loss, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. It also claimed that Lumos Labs had failed to disclose that the testimonials appearing on its website were provided as part of a contest that offered significant prizes. As part of the settlement agreement, FTC requires Lumos Labs to:

Pay a $50 million fine (which was reduced to $2 million due to the financial condition of the company as documented in its audited financial statements);
Notify all subscribers about the FTC action and how to cancel their subscription renewals; and
Modify all marketing materials that claim that Lumosity training will improve cognition or prevent the onset of any specific disease.

THE CONCEPT OF BRAIN TRAINING
Scientists used to think that people’s brains developed early, and that after childhood, people did not generate new brain neurons. More recently, researchers discovered that people develop new neurons through out their lives. This discovery led to the concept of “neuro-plasticity”, and the idea that we might be able to train our malleable brains to make them work better or to prevent cognitive decline. Researchers have been trying to develop computer programs that will achieve this vision.

NEUROSCIENTISTS’ WEIGH IN ON CURRENT BRAIN TRAINING PROGRAMS

The idea of brain training continues to be researched, but there has been increasing controversy over claims made by Lumosity. As early as 2010, researchers in peer-reviewed journals were openly questioning the efficacy of existing brain training programs. Last year, 70 researchers signed a letter published by the Stanford Center on Longevity expressing concern that there were no sound clinical trials that supported the claims of the brain training programs. They pointed out that soundly constructed trials show that regular use of brain-training games improves game performance, but not other cognitive skills used for every day tasks.

The FTC reviewed all the material and concurred with the neuroscientists.

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