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Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

ftc.gov

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Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#141

Post by lettergram »

arbitrage wrote: post #64
lettergram wrote: post #10

I just wanted to share my thoughts, which are simply: "Thank God!" I've been working on a startup: http://synaptitude.me/ (demo is old) Essentially, we can do some of what Luminosity claims (and have independent studies to prove it). Every time someone goes: "Oh it's just like Lumosity" I have to go through and explain the difference. My wife has a degree in neuroscience and I minored in BioE, and we both just HATE L…

What do you do that's different?

We provide a form of neurofeedback[1] therapy.

[1] http://synaptitude.me/blog/neurofeedback-in-200-words/

Essentially, we can help people identify bad practices and create better ones.

Turns out many of us don't realize when we start losing attention, or feeling sad. We just suddenly realize we do feel bad. The idea is to make you more aware of what makes you feel bad/lose attention, then you can control it (to a degree).

The end goal of our system is to use it in combination with other therapies, drugs, and medical professionals to determine the effectiveness of a therapy/drug on an individual and improve it. Coupled with that we can provide better coping skills, and our own therapy called neurofeedback (as mentioned).

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#142

Post by biot »

kazinator wrote: post #78
ebbv wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The FTC is being very heavy-handed here. Are you kidding me? A quick Google search turned up revenue of $24 million in 2013. 2014 and 2015 numbers did not come up on my quick search, but I'd imagine based on the amount of advertising they do it's at least held steady. And then there's the many millions of investment dollars they received before that. $2 million is not even a slap on the wrist. It's like blowing in…

$24 million revenue isn't net income after all the expenses and taxes. 2/24 is 8%. How would you like to be fined 8% of your yearly salary? Make $100k as a developer? $8k please! Good thing I'm not blowing gently in your other ear; that would be 16 thou.

I'm sure people who drive after a night of heavy drinking don't like having their vehicle impounded, their license taken away, and being thrown in jail. But what do percentages or likability have to do with the application of law?

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#143

Post by tedmiston »

drglitch wrote: post #8

About a year and a half ago i got dragged into the hype (via family subscription) - and actually enjoyed the games for about 3 days. after that, the fact that they had a total of about 5 variations, with totally predictable ordering, got really boring and i went back to 2048. You don't have to be a neuroscientist to see how this kind of predictable repetitive activity will make you "get better at it" every time you p…

I was a big fan of the restaurant server game. There was tons of variation in customers and their orders as you progressed in levels. Enough so that I could never really master that one. It felt like a good memory exercise though.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#144

Post by tedmiston »

jeffwass wrote: post #116
jonlucc wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have seen a proposal to make the cost of tickets based on value of the car. The thinking is that a person with an Audi is not at all disturbed by paying a $20 parking fine, so it isn't an incentive. It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how hard it would be to implement.

The UK does something like this, they call it "means adjusted" fines. Usually it's done if you challenge a ticket and they still find you guilty. Then they may adjust the fine relative to your financial condition. (I'm not sure how they find that out, eg if they talk to HMRC or other).

Does this only work to decrease the cost of the ticket?

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#147

Post by geoelectric »

basseq wrote: post #94
lettergram wrote: post #10

I just wanted to share my thoughts, which are simply: "Thank God!" I've been working on a startup: http://synaptitude.me/ (demo is old) Essentially, we can do some of what Luminosity claims (and have independent studies to prove it). Every time someone goes: "Oh it's just like Lumosity" I have to go through and explain the difference. My wife has a degree in neuroscience and I minored in BioE, and we both just HATE L…

This is awesome. My wife is a PhD in Applied Cognition with a dissertation on working memory and attention (including improvement in games and activities). She similarly hates Lumosity. (If you ever want an independent review or consultation of your science, I'll put you in touch.)

Out of curiosity, aside from the normal advice re: sleep, diet, exercise, etc., is there an everyday/attainable activity she doesn't hate for working memory and attention?

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#148

Post by Frqy3 »

kazinator wrote: post #47

The way I see it, they tapped into a widely held belief , rather than fears. It is a popular belief that doing mental work staves off cognitive decline (including age-related). I bet you that everyone at Lumosity actually believes it because their mother told them that when they were kids. My wife (Japanese) always says "good for older people" about any sort of puzzle. She didn't get this from being deceived by Lumos…

If someone sold carrots labelled as "Said to be good for your eyes" - or some other variation, then no problems.

However, if they state that there are medical studies showing that carrots improve your vision, then those claims should be checked out and action taken if not true.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#149

Post by abandonliberty »

revelation wrote: post #28
Briel wrote: post #6

>The order also imposes a $50 million judgment against Lumos Labs, which will be suspended due to its financial condition after the company pays $2 million to the Commission. So does that mean after paying this fine, Lumosity is in financial trouble?

It means they don't have $50m. I'd say that shouldn't matter, we don't give the poor a discount on parking tickets either (actually, we usually make them more expensive).

Doing so would put many people out of work and throw families into chaos. Not everyone there, and certainly not all their families, deserve that.

Besides, these fines aren't based on actual damage to society. I suspect the total is high because Pharma would laugh at a $2M fine, and the FDA wants to keep their teeth.

Re: Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app

#150

Post by mapt »

Ugh. Could have been higher.

My local entertainment mediums were spammed with this ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGjr_CJ2n98

for a solid year or two. The vapid, cultish, yet manic grin. The "Now, with Neuroscience(tm)!". The recursive caricature of a borderline mentally retarded person who now feels that everything is right in the world because she's paid tithe to the Intelligence Authorities. The notion that the commercial is not only defrauding, but actively mocking anyone too uneducated or uncritical or low-self-confidence, to doubt their claims. The several percent of her life it's implied she's supposed to spend engaging in ritual flagellation with repetitive, poorly designed games, in order to diminish the shaming at not 'working on my mind'.

It is the singular most offensive scumbag commercial advertisement that comes to mind. It brings on vivid fantasies of punching the smug grin off of this woman, even though I know intellectually she's just a professional actress, and I'm a pacifist.

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