Lumos Labs

About Lumos Labs

Lumos Labs, the creator of the Lumosity brain training program, was established in 2005 by Kunal Sarkar, Michael Scanlon, and David Drescher. The company's formation was driven by Scanlon's personal experiences with Alzheimer's disease in his family, which sparked his interest in neuroscience and the brain's plasticity—its ability to change in response to environmental stimuli. This led him to leave his neuroscience PhD program at Stanford to team up with college friend Sarkar and Drescher to translate academic cognitive research into accessible and engaging games for the public. The Lumosity.com platform officially launched in 2007 after two years of development.

The company operates in the cognitive training market, providing a digital platform of over 60 games designed to challenge core cognitive functions such as memory, attention, processing speed, flexibility, and problem-solving. Lumosity's business model is primarily freemium; users can access a limited selection of games for free, while full access to all games, personalized training regimens, and detailed performance insights requires a paid subscription. Subscriptions are offered on a monthly, annual, or lifetime basis and represent the main source of revenue for the company. The program begins with a "Fit Test" to establish a baseline and then adapts the difficulty of the games to each user's performance, ensuring they remain consistently challenged.

The product is available on the web and via mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. It's designed for a broad audience, from young adults to older individuals seeking to maintain cognitive health. In addition to its consumer-facing product, Lumos Labs has a research arm that collaborates with academic institutions to study cognitive performance, providing researchers with access to its software tools and vast dataset. A significant event in the company's history occurred in January 2016, when Lumos Labs settled with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for $2 million over deceptive advertising claims. The FTC found that the company lacked the scientific evidence to support its marketing assertions that the games could delay age-related cognitive decline, dementia, or improve real-world performance at school and work.