Lumosity Training Can Enhance Brain Function and Math Skills, According to Stanford Study

By Joe Hardy, PhD

Training with Lumosity can enhance cognitive function and change the way the brain processes math, according to a study published this week in the journal Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. Dr. Shelli Kesler, Assistant Professor at Stanford University Medical School, led an investigation into the effects of training with Lumosity’s Math Tutor course. The new course, specially designed in collaboration with Dr. Kesler, comprises various exercises targeted to improve speed of processing, cognitive flexibility, and number sense. Dr. Kesler and colleagues found that the course can improve cognition and math skills in girls with Turner’s syndrome — a genetic disorder known to disrupt cognitive functioning and produce deficits in math ability.

Participants exercised with Lumosity Math Tutor for 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week, over the course of 6 weeks. They were tested before and after training with both performance-based evaluations and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scanning techniques. Participants saw clinically significant improvements in processing speed, cognitive flexibility, visual attention, and math skills. Additionally, brain scans taken during a math task performed before and after training showed changes in neural activity in brain areas related to executive cognitive control and the dynamic control of attention*. These changes were consistent with increased math skills expertise and enhanced cognitive control in these participants.

*Panel above: areas in red represent increased activity; areas in blue represent decreased activity.

This is just one of the latest Human Cognition Project findings that shows how Lumosity training can functionally change the brain. Dedicated training is capable of making the brain more effective at the everyday tasks — like basic math —  that we regularly rely on. Consider signing up for a training course or two today!