Table 2 Description of Lumosity brain games
Set | Game name | Category | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Familiar faces | Memory | Episodic memory | Participants play a waiter’s role and earn higher tips if they can remember their customers’ names and food orders |
1 | Tidal treasures | Memory | Episodic memory | On each trial, participants are shown several unique ocean treasures and must choose one that they have not already selected in that round. Rounds can include up to 35 items, and some items are quite similar |
1 | Lost in migration | Attention | Flanker task | Participants indicate the direction of the central bird in the formation while ignoring the distractors around it |
1 | Splitting seeds | Attention | Subitizing (visual estimation) | Participants evenly divide a pile of seeds without counting them |
1 | Pirate passage | Reasoning | Planning | Participants navigate their ship to reach the treasure island without colliding with other pirate ships |
1 | Ebb and flow | Flexibility | Task switching | Participants view green or orange leaves moving across a pond and indicate the direction of where green leaves are pointing or where orange leaves are moving |
2 | Memory match | Memory | 2-back working memory | Participants must quickly determine whether a flashcard symbol matches the one presented two items ago |
2 | Word bubble rising | Language | Verbal fluency | Participants generate as many words as possible that start with the same starting letters (e.g., res, medi) within the time limit |
2 | Raindrops | Math | Arithmetic | Participants perform each math problem inside each raindrop before it reaches the bottom of the screen. Math problems include addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division |
2 | Penguin pursuit | Attention | Spatial orientation + speed | Participants guide a penguin through a maze to reach a reward of fish at the end before the other penguin does. When the maze rotates, participants must rotate their mental map of the maze and recalibrate the directions to get to the goal |
2 | Brain shift | Flexibility | Task switching | Participants are shown a letter-number pair (e.g., 5E) on the top or the bottom card. If the letter-number pair shows up on top, participants indicate whether the number is even; if it appears at the bottom, participants indicate whether the letter is a vowel or not |
2 | Color match 2 | Flexibility | Stroop | Participants indicate the color of a written word while ignoring the meaning of the word |