A Few More Words About Your Brain January 14, 2016January 9, 2016 You may have seen that Lumosity was fined $50 million last week. “Lumosity preyed on consumers’ fears about age-related cognitive decline, suggesting their games could stave off memory loss, dementia, and even Alzheimer’s disease,” Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a written statement. “But Lumosity simply did not have the science to back up its ads.” The FTC suspended all but $2 million of that (because Lumosity didn’t have $50 million), but the point was still made. By contrast, the BrainHQ exercises that I pitch you from time to time, do have the science. . . . Its exercises have been rigorously tested and scientifically proven to work in more than 100 independent, peer-reviewed research papers published in scientific journals . . . BrainHQ has been shown to bring substantial improvements in each of these categories: Whereupon it lists, with links to those studies, processing speed (e.g, “A doubling, on average, in visual processing speed, with some benefit of training still evident at 5- and 10-year follow-ups”); memory (“an average improvement of 10 years”); driving (“can stop 22 feet sooner when driving 55 mph”) and half a dozen other metrics, like balance and fall risk. So if you were among the millions paying Lumosity $14.95/month — or thinking that crossword puzzles are likely as effective (they’re not) — you might want to give BrainHQ’s free exercises a try. And then, perhaps — be still, my greedy little heart, as I have a small stake in the company — even sign up for their full suite.