Happy Neuron Review
Happy Neuron Review by Hope Wynns, May 2008
Happy-Neuron.com has an online brain training program specifically designed for cross-training your aging brain in the areas of memory, concentration, executive functions, visual and spatial skills.
This review is purely about the Happy Neuron Program which can be found at www.happy-neuron.com website. For a summary of the program and company click here.
See the related reviews for other brain fitness and memory improvement product reviews.
Comments on this review can be made via the contact page.
Happy Neuron Review
Introduction
Happy-Neuron
website provides a brain
training or brain exercise
program which appears to be based around the study of geriatrics,
neuroscience and neuropsychology. The Chief Scientific
Officer of the company studied at University Claude Bernard in
The Happy Neuron Program focuses on the areas of:
- Memory
- Attention or concentration
- Language
- Executive Function (logic and reasoning)
- Visual and Spatial Skills
How does it work?
The
Happy-Neuron website is well laid
out and
professional looking. Includes
information about the scientists behind the program and some of the
science. There are not any extraordinary claims or hype, they
show the "facts" that after playing some 500 games users saw
a 16%+
performance improvement.
One game from each of the training areas is available for unlimited
free play. The downside of the free play is the ads - which I
found distracting.
As of May 2008 there were a variety of games in each area:
- Memory games x 10
- Attention games x 7
- Language games x 5
- Executive Function games x 8
- Visual and Spatial Games x 4
When you sign up for the free trial for 7 days, you get:
- full access to all the games (without any advertising)
- the Virtual Coach which assigns you a program based on your requirements and previous training
- reports area which gives you information about your sessions, scores and to some extent your progress.
The Virtual Coach is a great idea. Each session you can choose the duration and type of training you want to do. You can opt for different types of brain workouts such as:
- balanced
- work on my weaknesses
- least played games
- oldest games
- memory
- attention
- language
- executive functions
This gives you the flexibility to choose how you would like to train which can differ from day to day.
The games have generally well written instructions and explanations. They also have examples, which I highly recommend you read before trying the games.
After each game you are given your scores and you can compare yourself to others in your age group and category! This can be empowering or depressing!!!
As a visual person, I found the auditory games particularly challenging - but it gives me something to work on!
The games are short so I don’t find I get too frustrated – but then I wonder if I am actually getting anything out of it.
Happy Neuron Program - Subscription Options
There are two types of subscriptions or memberships:
- monthly for about USD $9.95 a month or
- annual membership of USD $99.95 per year.
This makes the Happy Neuron program more expensive than Lumosity.
There is no discount for family members and it would be difficult for more than one person to use due to the way the games adapt to your skill levels and the reporting.
To
sign up for the free trial you
still need to give a credit
card and some limited personal
info. This is input
and processed on an
https secured site.
Positives
- No advertising on the paid membership games site.
- A good variety of games, so you don’t get bored. Games are cover visual, auditory, number and word type challenges. By comparison Lumosity is currently predominately number based.
- The “coach” allows you to chose what you want to work on
which gives you flexibility depending upon how you are feeling –
although I
tended to pick balanced.
Negatives
- Website has many bugs or glitches. This makes it more like what you would expect in a beta version not a paid version. The most common one is being thrown out of your game or coaching session.
- Some of the games are very short, too short I felt.
- Once you have done the games more than once, a 20 minute work out only seems to take about 5 to 10 minutes but I guess that can depend upon your own skill level plus the games they choose for you.
- I found the reporting very clinical. Didn’t really help me see if I was improving or not in any particular areas.
Happy Neuron Review Summary
The games are certainly
stimulating with lots of variety and
covering several areas of brain function.
My overall feeling is that it is great for variety, but I didn’t find it as personally rewarding as Lumosity. There were so many glitches in the system and the reporting was not convincing so I didn’t feel inclined to pay for it.
Adding these games in to my brain training program would be a bit like having a physical training program that includes walking ,swimming and a gym session – a bit of variety and the ability to work on slightly different areas and requirements.
Click here to compare Lumosity to Happy Neuron as a brain training exercise program.
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