U.S. Cracking Down on “Brain Training” Games

[progressoid]

The Federal Trade Commission will be sending out rebates to thousands of Lumosity customers misled by company ads

The brain-training giant Lumosity is recalibrating its strategy and facing new challenges as it reels from a federal crackdown on bold health claims about its digital games.

The company behind the Lumosity brand, Lumos Labs, has dramatically cut back on TV advertising. It is facing sharp questions about its much-touted research, which found that users enjoyed a bump in IQ. And there are signs that the growth of Lumosity’s once impressive mobile app business may have stalled.

Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission is preparing to send out rebates to thousands of customers who may have been drawn to Lumosity by its misleading ads. The agency has verified 13,000 requests for refunds, which will be funded by $2 million from Lumosity, but has yet to disclose how much each customer will receive.

The FTC has moved against other digital health tools, too. In May, the marketer of the LearningRx suite of brain-training games agreed to a $200,000 settlement for making false claims about what the games could do to improve conditions like ADHD and Alzheimer’s disease.

But Lumos Labs is the biggest player, by far, targeted by federal regulators.


Read more at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-cracking-down-on-brain-training-games/

[pinboy3niner]

1. Trump is due a humongous refund

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. ..

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. He should get an amazing refund from Hair Club for Men.

I'm sure he wouldn't mess with Luminosity. He's so naturally smart, let me tell you, you'd be amazed at how smart he is.

[Binkie The Clown]

2. One of the best brain training exercises is learning a new language.

And it opens you up to new ways of thinking. I highly recommend it.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. plus 1

[snort]

3. 2000000 dollars, 13000 requests.

I wonder if there is any way to figure out how much each customer will receive? If only there was a website that could make me smarter.

[Lochloosa]

6. Or at least show you where to put a comma.....

[Orrex]

8. But as long as the "Jackhammer Male Enhancement" ads are legit, all is safe

[progressoid]

9. Note to self:

Look for Jackhammer pills.

[Wounded Bear]

10. My brother bought into this for his grandkids...

while excercising one's brain functions is probably a good thing, as an intelligent person I know that there has never really been a way to "improve" IQ ratings. Hell, they barely know how to accurately measure them. It's a pretty esoteric concept, really.

I always wondered about these things. I wonder how that new one that just started advertising is. Educating is not "improving IQ."

[Act_of_Reparation]

11. Good. The world could do with a little less woo.