So what does all this mean for you?

As you play some of our newer Lumosity games, you may notice adjustments to your overall BPI, brain area BPIs (such as Memory and Attention), attribute BPIs (such as Visual Field and Focus) as well as individual game BPI histories. For example, playing Memory Match Overload will now affect your BPI for that individual game as well as for the larger categories it is a part of. Lumosity subscribers can check their Memory Match Overload BPI history at any time by logging into lumosity.com, accessing “Your Profile,” clicking on the “History” tab,  selecting “Memory,” clicking the “Working Memory” attribute, and choosing “Memory Match Overload” from the drop-down box. Because Memory Match Overload is a Working Memory game, playing it will affect the BPI for the Working Memory attribute and the more expansive Memory category, as well as your overall BPI. You can check your category and attribute BPI history from the History section within “Your Profile.”

Don’t be discouraged if your overall BPI drops a bit after playing one of our newer games: like all Lumosity activities, practice will lead to improvement, and eventually, a higher BPI. We’ll be integrating games into our BPI system during the upcoming weeks, starting with Memory Match Overload.

We’ll make sure to update this post each time we add another game to our BPI system, so keep checking back!

And as always, if you’re curious about how we calculate BPI scales, or could use a refresher, you can learn more about it here.

UPDATE 12/07/09

BPIs have been added for Playing Koi and Brain Shift Overdrive. Why not play them now?

It seems that working memory training may work by physically altering the brain. Stockholm Brain Institute researchers put healthy people through working memory exercises for 35 minutes per day over a period of 5 weeks. Changes in dopamine receptor density were measured with positron emission tomography (PET) before and after the training.

Following working memory training, they found:

• An increase in the density of dopamine receptors.
• An improvement in working memory performance.

The neurotransmitter dopamine plays a central role in working memory. This research implies that improving working memory performance through several weeks of training might work by increasing the quantity of dopamine receptors in the brain.

References:
Buschkuehl, M., Jaeggi, S. M., Hutchison, S., Perrig-Chiello, P., Däpp, C., Müller, M., et al. (2008). Impact of working memory training on memory performance in old-old adults. Psychology and Aging, 23(4), 743-53.

Dahlin, E., Neely, A. S., Larsson, A., Bäckman, L., & Nyberg, L. (2008). Transfer of learning after updating training mediated by the striatum. Science (New York, N.Y.), 320(5882), 1510-2.

McNab, F., Varrone, A., Farde, L., Jucaite, A., Bystritsky, P., Forssberg, H., et al. (2009). Changes in cortical dopamine D1 receptor binding associated with cognitive training. Science (New York, N.Y.), 323(5915), 800-2.

Now, you can see what your friends and family are doing on Lumosity and what their best cognitive attributes are. If they aren’t already on Lumosity, invite them to join so you can add them as Lumosity Friends.

Also, check out your new Lumosity profile and personalize it with a photo.

There’s a lot more to come; stay tuned in the coming weeks for more ways to communicate and coordinate with the Lumosity community.

As always, let us know what you think by commenting on this post or by sending a note to feedback@lumosity.com.

Follow us on Twitter: Lumosity is on Twitter, at twitter.com/lumosity.

Send us an email! Send us a note at feedback@lumoslabs.com and let us know what’s on your mind.

Live in the Bay Area? We’re always looking for local Lumosity subscribers who’d like to stop by the Lumos Labs headquarters in San Francisco to offer feedback on new ideas. Email feedback@lumosity.com and we’ll let you know about upcoming user testing events.

You’ll be getting a sneak peek of new game designs starting next week! We’d love to hear what you think at games@lumoslabs.com.

We’re on a roll! Following the debut of Name Tag last month, we are now ready to release Top Chimp, a brain game that sharpens visual attention and trains working memory. We think it’s more fun than a barrel of…well, monkeys, but would love to have your feedback before the game becomes part of the regular set of brain exercises. Please find the game here http://games.lumosity.com/top_chimp.html and send any suggestions to games@lumosity.com.

Our new partners are FirstMark Capital and Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), and together we will be able to continue our research into how to increase brain performance and maintain brain health in the best – and most enjoyable – ways possible.

The official press release is on the next page.

Brain Fitness and
Game Development Organization Raises $3 Million to Further Research

Brain researchers’ quest to improve brain fitness advanced by
FirstMark Capital and Norwest Venture Partners investment

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – June 3, 2008 – Lumos Labs, developer of Lumosity.com, the leading web-based provider of scientifically-tested brain games, today announced that it has raised $3 million of equity financing from FirstMark Capital, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), and existing investors including Michael Dearing.

The investor group brings expertise that will catalyze the ongoing development of Lumosity.com and support Lumos Labs’ mission to improve lives by enhancing brain fitness.

“Lumos Labs is at the center of a booming interest in cognitive exercise and the emerging science about the remarkable plasticity of the brain,” said Amish Jani of FirstMark Capital. “Lumosity.com has seen tremendous demand from users and partners alike by leveraging the power of the web to deliver a unique platform for brain fitness.”

Lumosity.com’s programs consist of game-like exercises designed to train and improve cognitive functions. The programs target different parts of the brain, and are experimentally tested with the help of collaborators at top academic institutions. Users pay a monthly subscription to use the program and track their progress with detailed performance reports and feedback.

“In our analysis, Lumosity.com stood out from its competitors because of its best-in-class combination of engaging games and scientific rigor,” said Tim Chang of Norwest Venture Partners. “This unique combination has led to a strong market demand for Lumosity.com’s offerings and has created a leader in the emerging market for brain fitness.”

“We’re excited to take basic neuroscience and psychology findings out of the lab and deliver them to consumers in a way that is actually improving their lives,” said Michael Scanlon, Chief Scientific Officer of Lumos Labs. “This investment will enable us to significantly expand the diversity of games we offer, while further advancing the field through creative innovations and research with our academic collaborators.”

About Lumos Labs
Founded in 2005, Lumos Labs, Inc. creates innovative neuroscience-based tools that empower people to lead better lives through improved brain health and performance. Lumos Labs is a pioneer in developing scientifically designed and experimentally tested online brain fitness programs. The company works in collaboration with leading scientists in neuroscience and cognitive psychology from Stanford, UCSF, and other leading research institutions to bring beneficial and innovative products to market. Lumosity.com is the online brain performance program researched and developed by Lumos Labs, and is scientifically demonstrated to improve cognitive function in adults through a series of engaging exercises and brain games. For more information, please visit www.lumosity.com.

About FirstMark Capital
FirstMark Capital is the direct venture investment arm of Pequot Capital Management, Inc. FirstMark is focused on today’s most dynamic startup and growth-stage companies in the technology industry. For more than a decade, FirstMark has partnered with talented entrepreneurs and experienced managers to build market-leading enterprises. With nearly $2 billion in capital commitments, FirstMark brings energy, insight and substantial sector expertise to create competitive, sustainable businesses and long-term value. FirstMark Capital will continue to invest in high-growth businesses which are leading the technology revolution. Select investments include: Netgear, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTGR); First Advantage Corp. (NASDAQ: FADV); StubHub, Inc (Acquired by eBay, Inc.); Netegrity, Inc. (Acquired by CA Inc); Flarion, Inc. (Acquired by Qualcomm, Inc.); OutlookSoft Inc. (Acquired by SAP AG); Analex Corp. (Acquired by QinetiQ); Vallent (Acquired by IBM) and Syndesis (Acquired by Subex). For more information, please visit http://www.firstmarkcap.com/.

About Norwest Venture Partners (NVP)
Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a global venture capital firm that has actively partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 45 years. NVP focuses on investments in information technology including: Internet, media and consumer, software, services, enterprise and communications systems and semiconductor/components. The firm currently manages more than $2.5 billion in venture capital out of its office in Palo Alto, California. NVP has funded over 400 companies in the U.S. since inception. Some of the firm’s recent investments and transactions include Adventity, Airespace (acquired by Cisco Systems), deCarta, DoubleFusion, Jigsaw, KACE, mBlox, Omneon, Open-Silicon (acquired by Unicorn Investment Bank), Persistent Systems, Rackspace, SideStep (acquired by Kayak), Spinnaker Networks (acquired by Network Appliance), Winphoria Networks (acquired by Motorola) Yatra, and Yipes (acquired by Reliance/Flag Telecom). NVP has also funded such market leaders as Actel Corporation, Cerent (acquired by Cisco Systems), Documentum, Extreme Networks, Forte Software (acquired by Sun Microsystems), PeopleSoft and Tivoli Systems (acquired by IBM). For more information, please visit www.nvp.com.

(We’ll have an easy way to purchase this Lumosity shirt soon.)

NY Times: Exercise Your Brain, or Else You’ll…Uh…, by Katie Hafner.

Yahoo! Tech: Brain Game Can Boost IQ…, by Christopher Null.

BC Gaming: Game Review: Lumosity, by Alexandria Jackson.

Reader’s Digest: HealthSmart

Dominic Cadden writes about his experience completing the Lumosity training program.

Fox News: Website of the Day

Check out Doug Delony’s broadcast of Lumosity: “Games for a happy Friday”

New Scientist

Graham Lawton did an excellent assessment of the current state of the science behind brain training products.

Women’s Health Mag

Tips to avoid forgetting and losing stuff – Lumosity helps you avoid losing memory itself.