Brain training app is smarter than average

TYPE “brain training” into the App Store and you find more than 1500 results.

Peak app

TYPE “brain training” into the App Store and you find more than 1500 results, from apps challenging your brain with scientific games to those tackling specific aspects of your cognition like language or maths. Peak, an app launched in early September by London-based start-up Brainbow Ltd, isn’t just following the trend: it gathers data in the daily mental exercises that could shine a light on how we use our brains in our professional lives.

Peak mimics the way fitness apps let you set daily goals and has daily workouts for your grey matter, focusing on games to improve language skills, mental agility, problem solving, focus and memory. It also lets you set up training reminders at specific times on each day of the week.

Having tried a number of brain training apps over the year, I was impressed with graphs in Peak that let you see your performance over time. And I think this is where this app’s unique selling point lies. I was able to see how I ranked in relation to others in my age group (92 per cent in focus but only 45 per cent in problem solving, if you’re asking) and was able to see how I am performing in relation to all other users in each category, known as the Peak Score. This is calculated out of 1000 points and made up of the five skill indices.

Peak took 18 months to develop and has seen “a very large global adoption”, says Sagi Shorrer, one of the firm’s founders. It’s free to download and use daily, but there’s a “pro” version available through in-app purchasing that gives users full access to its content, stats and personalisation, Shorrer adds. That version costs $US4.99 for one month; $US24.99 for six months and $US34.99 for a year.

The app also asks users to state their profession and, due to popular demand, you can compare your mental abilities with others in the same line of work.

Shorrer, whose firm has raised $US3 million so far with the backing of Qualcomm Ventures, DN Capital and other key investors, believes the personalised performance charts plus the short time it takes to complete a daily workout will help it compete and win users. “Peak is fully dedicated to providing a big data approach to brain training, allowing users’ maximum insight and transparency with regard to their performance,” he says.

Beyond just finding out if you’re smarter than your annoying colleague, the possibilities for using the data produced by users are very exciting. (“Data privacy standards are based on the strict EU data protection regulations and as we scale the service globally, we comply [with] local standards and regulation if different from those,” Shorrer says.) Brainbow is at the early stages of trying to identify patterns by profession that could eventually be used for recruiting.

For example, using the data available so far, Shorrer and his team have been able to identify, based on top skills per profession, that while many occupations emphasise memory and language over all, the top skills for software engineers are focus and mental agility, while the top two skills for police officers are memory and mental agility.

“Are we focusing on the right skills?” Shorrer asks.

The Wall Street Journal