Lawsuits Call Learning Device A Lesson In Fraud

It wasn't long after "The Learning Machine" arrived in March that Donna Briggie was disappointed.

A thin wire holding the battery in the machine's CD player tore after a few weeks, so she sent the machine back.

Briggie, of Seattle, still hasn't seen the refund that customer-service representatives at Zygon International Inc. in Redmond had told her was on its way in April.

By some estimates, Zygon has shipped thousands of the $300 machines to people hoping to learn a foreign language, lose weight or improve their memory with minimal effort.

But lawsuits filed in five states, including Washington, contend the machine is nothing more than an expensive scam.

The suits, filed by the attorneys general of Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas and a district attorney in California, come nine years after Zygon opened its phone lines to callers from all over the world.

The idea of "The Learning Machine" appealed to Briggie after she read about it in a catalog.

"It sounded good," she said. "You just put this thing over your head and you will learn. I must be lazy, because things like that interest me."

For the short time the machine was working, she listened to a French CD.

"I don't think it makes any difference if you study the old-fashioned way or learn their way," she said. "I didn't think I was learning as quickly as they said I would."

Company executives at Zygon, which markets the device through

the mail, say their futuristic compact disc player and headset can accelerate learning by synchronizing both sides of the brain and "pouring" information into the subconscious.

Zygon President Dane Spotts writes in the company's 23-page, full-color catalog: "The Learning Machine" can "open a window directly into your mind" and "like magic . . . pour in new information."

At company headquarters yesterday, operations manager Mike Knorre said the company had not been notified of a lawsuit and declined to comment on the allegations.

"We've been in business a long time," Knorre said. "We stand behind our product."

The company, which advertises in catalogs, on radio stations and in national publications such as USA Today and Psychology Today, was started by Spotts in California and moved to Redmond about three years ago.

David Horn, an assistant attorney general in Washington, said his office received 156 written complaints - most concerning the company's failure to make timely refunds - before filing the lawsuit Tuesday.

In its catalog, Zygon guarantees it will refund the total purchase price if a consumer is not "blown away by the awesome power of this technology" after a 30-day trial period.

"If the thing worked, you wouldn't have all these people clamoring for refunds," Horn said. "They're complaining not just that it doesn't work, but that they can't get their money back."

Horn said attempts were made to settle with Zygon, but company executives said they were unable to put up any money.

Company representatives would not comment on Zygon's finances.

The company has been sued in King County Superior Court nearly a dozen times by suppliers, collection agencies and the state for nonpayment of bills and unpaid industrial-insurance taxes. Some of the matters have been resolved.

The Texas attorney general goes further than Washington, asking the court to stop the sale of "The Learning Machine."

The lawsuit charges the company's claims are "false, deceptive and misleading."

"The Learning Machine" is supposed to relax the mind by inserting information into the brain through subliminal messages. A combination of flashing lights and three different but simultaneous narratives are used.

Geralyn Dirks, a quality-control worker for Boeing, said she thought the device would help her lose "that last 10 pounds."

It was relaxing after work to turn on the machine and listen to three voices at once, she said, one in each ear and one coming from the back of the head.

The voice deep in the background that she couldn't really hear, she said, was the one with messages about losing weight.

But after trying and sending back five machines that sounded fuzzy, Dirks said, she gave up.

"I never did see a difference," said the Everett woman, who used the machine over a period of months. "I didn't see a change in my weight or eating habits."

A retired psychology professor from Iowa State University who conducted clinical trials of "The Learning Machine" said there is no proof that Zygon's technology works.

"The idea is intriguing," said Donald Schuster, who compared the machine with traditional learning. "But my conclusion was that the machine was of no help to people in learning words."

Schuster said he conducted two trials about a year ago, using Spanish vocabulary words. In each case, he gave four students a list of about 15 words to learn and four others a "Learning Machine" programmed with the same words. "The results were of no credit to Zygon," he said.

Schuster, who taught psychology for 25 years at Iowa State, said it is possible to improve learning by introducing information in a variety of ways to keep students interested.

But so far, he said, no one has demonstrated that a person can learn without effort.

"You've got to want to learn and realize what you're studying," he said. "There's no magic."