FAQ
Here is a list of the most common questions you may have while visiting our site:
General
What is Happy Neuron?
Based on extensive scientific research, Happy Neuron provides a convenient, entertaining, and challenging way to organize your brain workout. Increasingly, scientific evidence tells us that “use it or lose it” applies to our brains just as it does to our bodies. And quick fixes just don’t work! Regular, consistent workouts are key to making our brains fit for life. Happy Neuron helps you cross train critical thinking skills, including memory, language, concentration, reasoning, and visual and spatial skills. Enjoy your workout!
How much does a membership cost?
We offer two memberships: a monthly membership for US $9.95 a month and an annual membership for US $99.95 a year. Each membership comes with a free 7 day trial. Once the trial is over, your subscription will automatically begin and you will be billed each month at a rate of about 33 cents a day for the monthly subscription—or about 27 cents a day for the annual subscription.
How do I cancel my membership?
To cancel:
-Log into the site. This should automatically take you to the "My Home" page. If it does not, click on the "My Home" link on the top right corner of the page.
-Next, click the "My Order History" link on the side menu to access the page where you can cancel.
-The 'cancel' link is located next to the current order under "Available Actions". Clicking the 'cancel' link will expire your account at the end of the current billing cycle and your account will no longer be billed. However, we do encourage you to keep playing until the subscription is finished.
I Can't Remember My Password
If you have forgotten your password, simply click on the login button located in the upper right hand corner of www.Happy-Neuron.com .
-Click on the "Lost your Password" link on the login page and follow the directions.
-You will receive a temporary password which can later be changed once you are able to log into your account.
-Still having problems? Please email Customer Support at support@happy-neuron.com
Remember, the password is case sensitive!
Brain Training
Who can benefit from Happy Neuron?
The Happy Neuron site is suited for individuals of all ages, education and professional background. We all need to keep our brains fit.
How does the brain change physiologically as we age?
There is evidence that around the age of 60, many people start complaining of cognitive impairments. One reason is that starting at about that age, the brain undergoes many physical changes. Changes include enlargement of the ventricular system, widening of sulci (grooves) on the surface of the brain, reduced brain weight and brain volume --- probably caused by the loss of neurons--- and reduction in the size of many areas of the cerebral cortex. Also, neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and stroke are more common in people over 60.
If you have noticed cognitive changes, you should consult your physician if you haven't already. Your doctor may want to refer you to a neuropsychologist for more extensive evaluation. Please note that the current versions of our games have not been specifically designed for those with brain injuries or neurological disorders. The good news is that the brain is quite resilient. If we do all we can to maintain our health as we age, including well-directed mental workouts, then some mental impairments may be delayed, avoided or perhaps even reversed.
Who benefits the most from cognitive training and how long does it take to see results?
Research is under way across the country (including here at Happy Neuron) to determine who benefits the most from cognitive training (healthy adults, stroke patients, those with mild cognitive impairments) and how long individuals need to train in order to see results. These questions have not yet been answered definitively, but many researchers agree that daily mental exercise may maintain or improve brain fitness, and may even delay the onset of cognitive impairment. We suggest training every day for 30 minutes. If you have time constraints, then it is better to do several more short session a week rather than doing a 2-hour session once a week. In addition, it is important that you work with a comprehensive program that trains several brain functions. Also, it is important to challenge yourself by playing games of various levels of difficulty. Last, cognitive training should complement a healthy lifestyle. That is to say that you also need to exercise, eat healthy, sleep well and socialize. Keep busy!
Are your games helpful for people who have had brain injuries?
Although many different types of populations use our cognitive training games, the current versions have not been specifically designed for those with brain injuries. This information ought not discourage you but, rather, you should be aware that you may find some of the tasks more challenging than the average person. Similarly, your scores will be compared to a population of folks with essentially "normal" brain functioning and therefore they will not be valid for you. We would suggest consulting with your physician and/or rehabilitation therapist, as you would before starting any exercise regimen. Before trying the games out, first seek out their advice. Then, if they have no objection, you can see how you feel about them.
How does Happy Neuron analyze results?
All Happy Neuron games have been standardized based on age, gender and level of education. The standardization of a test entails a process of normalization that finds the average score and the spread of scores when the test is given to a group that is similar to a given player. Since 2002, Happy Neuron has collected over 9,000,000 exercise results from Internet users. We are thus able to reliably analyze your performance level for each exercise variant and each population category. The process of finding norms also requires that different scores are found in a normal distribution. After finding the mean, group norms and the standard deviation, the process of standardization should make the test results fall into a rough bell curve. Ninety five percent (95%) of the population is spread between -2 and +2 standard scores: every performance within this interval corresponds to what can be logically expected. Subjects with a very high level of expertise are beyond +2 standard deviations (2.5% of the population).
How important is the "Compare" section?
Comments for each exercise have been chosen according to the position of your performances in relation to those within +/- 2 standard deviations. In order to help you set targets, you can look at the "Compare" section where you will see a range of results that correspond to the top 25% of scores obtained by persons with a profile similar to yours (age, gender and educational level, as mentioned above). Your aim should therefore be to try to get your results to fall within these intervals as often as possible.
What can the coach do for me?
The personalized Happy Neuron coach can design an appropriate cross-training workout based on your past and current cognitive performance, your preferences and your available time. The goal is always to maintain and improve your overall cognitive performance. Each time you go to "Coach", your personalized coach performs a profile analysis to determine the most relevant exercises for your current training session.
I had a stroke and as a result I have hearing loss. Can I still play your games?
It is true that some stroke patients have significantly impaired performance on dichotic competing tasks but that should not stop you from exercising your brain. In fact, other parts of your brain may compensate for your hearing loss and you should continue playing games to strengthen those connections. The "squeaking mouse" would be a good one to try. Also, for the games that include auditory processing, it probably doesn't make much sense to compare yourself to the norm. You might also want to ask a neurologist for his advice.
Have there been any scientific studies done on your product to test its effectiveness?
Happy Neuron games are based on cognitive research done mostly in France. On average, after 425 games, subscribers improve between +14% (memory) and +20% (language), with 16% overall improvement which is significant. There are number of new research projects under way in the US and results will be made available soon.
How appropriate are your games for someone that has processing speed difficulties.
Happy Neuron games have not been designed as a therapy for any particular problem however, you may want to try us out anyway. Our games have adjustable levels of difficulty and many emphasize processing speed in various neuropsychological functions and modalities, e.g., visual and auditory skills. Our games have been standardized with a healthy adult population in mind, so you should ignore the scoring system. Happy Neuron games are inherently entertaining and we always encourage people to try us out with a free trial.
I am not comfortable with computers. Can I use Happy Neuron without a computer?
We would like our members to keep in mind that using Happy Neuron via computer is part of the novel experience and learning process that one needs on a daily basis to maintain mental health. It is in itself a cognitive stimulating activity. Studies have showed that the use of computers can enhance self-esteem, meets needs for fun and mental stimulation, and improves competencies and autonomy. It can also decrease levels of depression, loneliness, and stress. As with any new task, learning how to use a computer takes a bit of time and patience. In turn the benefits of learning a new skill can be significant.
Technical
Is Happy Neuron Secure?
Yes. Happy Neuron ensures the security of your personal information using SSL secure internet communication for all personal information pages and purchase pages. This is visible when the browser URL starts with “https:” and the appearance of a lock symbol in your browser screen.
What do I need to use the site?
You will need to have the Adobe Flash player to play the Happy Neuron games. Over 98% of computers already have the Flash player pre-installed. If you do not, you can download it FREE from Adobe.
I get the following error message when playing games on Happy Neuron:
"You can not launch this game because it fails recovering your session information. These data is stored in Session Cookies, so your browser and your security tools should be configured to authorize them."
If you received the above error message while accessing the Happy Neuron brain fitness games on our partner websites, it may be due to having your cookie session settings disabled in your browser. Cookies are little bits of data that are sent to the site you are currently navigating. For Happy Neuron, it tracks information on the playing sessions. Cookies are also a way for a Website to recognize you and keep track of your preferences. Here is how to change your cookie browsers setting:
For Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0
-Open Tools, then Internet Options
-Go to the Privacy Tab and make sure your settings "Allow Cookies".
For Mozilla FireFox
-Open Tools, then click on Options
-Go to Privacy Tab and check "accepts cookies from site"
For Macintosh Safari Users
-Open Safari Browser
-From the menu bar select Safari then Preferences
-Click the Security tab.
-In the "accept Cookies"
The Flash player will not install properly.
If the player does not install or you get errors during the installation, you may have an old version that is interfering with the new player. To completely uninstall Flash, please use the un-installers located on this page http://sdc.shockwave.com/shockwave/download/alternates/#fp. You can then install a fresh version which often solves the problem. More information about installing Flash on PC, Mac or Linux can be found at the Adobe site. If you have further problems please contact us.
My Personal Profile does not work properly in the new Internet Explorer 7 as it's displaying 2001 as the date.
This may be due to a problem accepting cookies from the site. In Internet Explorer 7, go to the 'Tools' menu then choose the 'Privacy' tab. Click the 'Sites' button then add http://www.happy-neuron.com to the list of sites from which you will always 'Allow' cookies. Once this is done, restart your computer then try the site again.
My computer is a Mac.
No problem. The Flash player is available for Mac as well as newer Intel Macs.
I have problems with the follow-up of my training session.
Your browser may not allow session cookies. Those cookies enable us to follow up your training session. They are automatically destroyed by your browser each time you end a session. If you use Internet Explorer, go to Tools/Internet Options, Safety tab, select Internet Zone, then personalize the level. In the cookies section, activate the element "Authorize session cookies". If you also activate the cookies, you will not need to fill out the question form next time. If you use Netscape, go to Edition/Preferences, Advanced category, in the Cookies paragraph, tick off one of the "accept cookies" boxes. If you still have problems, or if your problem has not been dealt with on this page, please contact us and our technical staff will help you solve it.