title: Evidence for age-associated cognitive decline from Internet game scores.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lumosity's Memory Match (LMM) is an online game requiring visual working memory. Change in LMM scores may be associated with individual differences in age-related changes in working memory.
  
  
  METHODS
  Effects of age and time on LMM learning and forgetting rates were estimated using data from 1890 game sessions for users aged 40 to 79 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significant effects of age on baseline LMM scores (β = -.31, standard error or SE = .02, P < .0001) and lower learning rates (β = -.0066, SE = .0008, P < .0001). A sample size of 202 subjects/arm was estimated for a 1-year study for subjects in the lower quartile of game performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Online memory games have the potential to identify age-related decline in cognition and to identify subjects at risk for cognitive decline with smaller sample sizes and lower cost than traditional recruitment methods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Geyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Radiology, Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, VA Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Insel
authors.affiliation: Lumos Labs, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Faraz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Farzin
authors.affiliation: Lumos Labs, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sternberg
authors.affiliation: Lumos Labs, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.affiliation: Lumos Labs, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scanlon
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mungas
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, VA Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: R Scott
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mackin
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Radiology, Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, VA Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Weiner
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Cognitive decline; Internet game; Internet registry; Memory; Online cognitive assessments; Online games