MANDEL SCHOOL
NEWS AND EVENTS
June 01, 2012
Bingo Research Makes its Debut on Local Fox News Affiliate
MSASS Dean Grover Gilmore and his research on dementia was the recent focus of a Fox 8 Cleveland news report for "Parenting U." Gilmore was interviewed by TV reporter Todd Meany, and talked about his recent research on bingo cards and mild dementia.
Gilmore and other researchers discovered how larger, high-contrast bingo cards can help boost thinking and playing skills for people with cognitive difficulties and visual perception problems produced by Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD).
"It is a dimmer world for them," Gilmore explained. "But if we enhance that world by giving them high-contrast stimuli, by even turning up the contrast on the TV screen, they actually will be able to see the objects, enjoy them, and become more engaged."
Gilmore offered the high-contrast bingo cards as an example. When study participants played bingo on computer-generated cards that were manipulated for brightness, size and contrast, the researchers could compare the performance among different age and health groups. With enhanced contrast and changes to the card size, researchers reported improved performances, especially for those with mild dementia.
Learn more about the study or watch the TV segment on Fox News.