Playing bingo has been proved again not just to be good for socialising but also a boost for cognitive skills and visual perception, researchers have found. In order to study how visual perception influences cognition, investigators from Case Western Reserve University, Boston University and Bridgewater State University observed a group of healthy seniors, healthy younger adults, seniors with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other types of dementia all play bingo.

The study revealed that when participants played bingo on computer screens that were adjusted for size, color contrast and brightness, players' scores improved. When those adjustments were made, people with mild dementia performed as well as their healthier peers. However the study also revealed little benefits for those with severe dementia.

The study, “Bingo! Externally supported performance intervention for deficient visual search in normal aging, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease,” was published online in the journal Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition last month.