Subject: Why Lost in Migration is more than just a "game":
From: "Lumosity" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 22:25:51 -0700

Train, learn, and track your progress

As a subscriber, you can do more than just train your brain. Track your progress, see how you compare to others, and gain insights into your strengths on Lumosity.

Subscribe to Lumosity and receive 30% off:
http://www.lumosity.com/purchase?ll_ch=sendgrid&ll_src=t%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.21%7Csd%3D2014-07-22%7Cm%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.22&promotion_code=30RNLLM-MHMLB-072014&spDate=2014-07-22&token=69497d36-85a9-775a-ca73-7ea3095fe3b9

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The Science Behind Lumosity: Lost in Migration

Lumosity members love the Attention game Lost in Migration. It's easy to learn, exciting to play, and it lets you challenge your ability to focus in just 45 seconds.

But like all our games, Lost in Migration is more than just a game: it’s based on an exciting research breakthrough that gave psychologists and neuroscientists an important new tool for measuring and understanding attention.

One scientist’s insight in 1974

Psychologist Charles Eriksen didn’t fit the academic stereotype of the 1970s: he wore cowboy boots, enjoyed darts, and played practical jokes on his fellow professors. But Eriksen had noticed something fascinating about a common visual attention task being used at the time.

This original attention task asked people to identify one target letter out of a ring of other distractor letters — but Eriksen noticed that the smaller the distance between the target and distractors, the slower people were at responding.

Does this sound familiar? In Lost in Migration, your goal is to focus on the center bird. But you can't let yourself get distracted by the surrounding flock of birds.

The invention of the Flanker task

After noticing this phenomenon, Eriksen went on to develop a new attention test like the one you’ll encounter in Lost in Migration. In this new “flanker” task, the target letter, instead of appearing in a ring of other letters, was surrounded by either identical or different letters. Once again, participants took longer to respond when the target letter was different from surrounding ones. 

The flanker task requires that participants suppress their impulse to pay attention to distractors and focus only on the target — challenging selective attention. Eriksen had created a valuable tool to help scientists better understand how people process and filter stimuli in an information-rich world.

Ever since Eriksen’s research in the 1970s, flanker tasks have enjoyed extensive use among psychologists. They’ve been used to evaluate many different aspects of attention, making them a perfect choice when our neuroscientists designed Lost in Migration. We’ve made some key changes: for example, we used birds rather than letters so that members who speak any language can enjoy the game.

Now that you know a bit more about the history behind Lost in Migration, why not give it a try? It’ll challenge your ability to focus and avoid distractions, plus give you a chance to experience a slice of cognitive science history. Subscribers can play Lost in Migration and all 40+ other scientifically designed games!

Subscribe to Lumosity and receive 30% off:
http://www.lumosity.com/purchase?ll_ch=sendgrid&ll_src=t%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.21%7Csd%3D2014-07-22%7Cm%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.22&promotion_code=30RNLLM-MHMLB-072014&spDate=2014-07-22&token=69497d36-85a9-775a-ca73-7ea3095fe3b9

-------------------------------------------------------------------

LEARN MORE

Help Center / FAQs:
http://www.lumosity.com/help?ll_ch=sendgrid&ll_src=t%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.21%7Csd%3D2014-07-22%7Cm%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.22

About Lumosity:
http://www.lumosity.com?ll_ch=sendgrid&ll_src=t%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.21%7Csd%3D2014-07-22%7Cm%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.22

Contact Us:
http://www.lumosity.com/help?ll_ch=sendgrid&ll_src=t%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.21%7Csd%3D2014-07-22%7Cm%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.22

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Keep up with the latest Lumosity updates:

Become a fan on Facebook: 
https://www.facebook.com/Lumosity?ll_ch=sendgrid&ll_src=t%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.21%7Csd%3D2014-07-22%7Cm%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.22

Follow us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/lumosity?ll_ch=sendgrid&ll_src=t%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.21%7Csd%3D2014-07-22%7Cm%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.22

Subscribe to us on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/lumosity?ll_ch=sendgrid&ll_src=t%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.21%7Csd%3D2014-07-22%7Cm%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.22

-------------------------------------------------------------------

We are unable to respond to messages sent to this automated email 
address. To contact us, please submit your question here:
http://www.lumosity.com/help?ll_ch=sendgrid&ll_src=t%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.21%7Csd%3D2014-07-22%7Cm%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.22

Lumos Labs, Inc. | 140 New Montgomery, Fl 19 | San Francisco, CA 94105  

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The email address linked to your Lumosity account is 
[email-masked]. Update your email preferences or unsubscribe:

http://www.lumosity.com/purchase?ll_ch=sendgrid&ll_src=t%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.21%7Csd%3D2014-07-22%7Cm%3DRMKTG_Newsletters_LostInMigration_Post60_ELTV0_2014.07.22&token=

Note that even if you unsubscribe, we will send certain 
account-related emails, such as purchase details or requests for 
password resets.=2