Bingo-A Proven Brain Booster

Posted on July 14th, 2010

Several studies have shown that bingo, both land based and online, can help pensioners to keep the brain agile and keep hand eye coordination in good shape. Over 3 million people regularly play bingo in the UK and a sizeable portion of players are older. Games like chess, backgammon and some card games are good mental exercise and require skills that are stored in the brain and used only when required. Bingo, on the other hand, requires speedy hand eye movement and the identification of numbers in a specific time frame.

Researchers at the University of Southampton’s Centre for Visual Cognition at the Department of Psychology have been testing bingo players for mental agility. The responses of two groups of people, one aged 18 to 40, and a second group 60 to 80. One half of each group played bingo while the other half did not. Researchers had suspected that long term mental activity, such as playing bingo, could slow the decline of cognitive abilities such as the recognition of patterns and speed and accuracy. It was found that the bingo players were more accurate and faster in their responses on the various tests. Surprisingly in performing some tasks older participants did much better than their younger counterparts. The study attempted to identify what mental skills are involved in playing bingo and how it helps the brain to maintain mental agility.

In an interview with the BBC researcher Julie Winstone stated, “I expected bingo players to be better than non-players at bingo skills.  But interestingly, younger and older players were able to achieve the same level of performance.  They didn’t decrease in their knowledge or skill at the game, and the effectiveness with which they played did not decrease.”  Ms. Winstone said that while younger players were faster but older players were much more accurate. Ms. Winstone who is a PHD candidate said she plans to conduct further studies. The research did not go unnoticed by the bingo industry. Spokesman for bingo giant Rank Group which own the well known brand Mecca Bingo stated, “For those people who play bingo, it gives them a great deal of interest and a great deal of excitement. People go and have a bit of fun. But they have to concentrate too. It’s good for people. It stops them becoming a couch potato.”

Obviously the results of the research are good news for the bingo industry. Both land based and online bingo players can maintain mental agility well into their golden years and is another great reason to play bingo!