Could reading Go strengthen the brain? Professional players show younger, healthier brain function

Senior professional Go players showed brain function that appeared younger and healthier than that of other older men, according to a study by researchers at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital.

The team compared MRI scans and other data from 29 senior professionals with an average age of 66 and 50 older men with an average age of 63. The professional players had about 17% greater volume in the right middle frontal gyrus, a region in the frontal lobe associated with balancing intuition and calculation and simulating complex positions.

The professionals had played Go for an average of 54.6 years. Across 5,000 detailed simulations, their brains showed strong structural covariance connections linking the left and right hemispheres throughout major brain networks. The Korea Baduk Association said this suggested that their brains operated efficiently across the whole network, rather than showing development in only one area.

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This study shows that, under the principle of neuroplasticity, the brain’s structure and function can be positively reorganized in older adults depending on the cognitive activity they continue.

Cognitive tests also found that the professional players performed better in working memory, which supports short-term memory and concentration. Their information processing was significantly faster and more accurate. Although the professional group had received an average of 3.5 fewer years of formal education than the comparison group, researchers linked their brain development to lifelong Go training.

The findings, published in the international journal Neuroimage, were presented as evidence that continued intellectual stimulation can help build cognitive reserve and offset aspects of physical brain aging. A research team representative said the results showed that even in old age, sustained cognitive activity can positively reorganize brain structure and function, highlighting Go as a form of mental stimulation for maintaining cognitive health.

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It was an opportunity to reassess the value of Go as a brain-stimulating activity for maintaining cognitive health in old age.