This is good news for gamers (including myself) worldwide.
U.S Researchers announced today that after a series of studies that adults who frequently play action-packed video games seem to be improving their eyesight and awareness dramatically.
A total of 22 students were split into two groups. The first group played fast-paced and twitch-reflex dependent games: the WWII blockbuster, Call of Duty 2 and Epic’s Unreal Tournament 2004. The second group of students were tasked with playing the more casual and less frantic game, The Sims 2, by Electronic Arts.
50 hours of gaming, and nine weeks later the researcher’s drew a interesting conclusion:
“We’ve found that action video games train the brain to process the existing visual information more efficiently, and the improvements last for months after game play stopped.”
says Daphne Bavelier, of of the University of Rochester. In fact, test subjects who played the two action games were 43% better at determining the difference between close shades of gray, whilst the casual gamers belonging to the second group showed no improvements at all.
The good news doesn’t end there for hardcore gamers. According to the study, long-time and frequent gamers were 58% better at noticing slight contrast changes when compared to the average person.
How is this possible you may ask? According to modern science the only real way of improving visual acuity is with either surgery or glasses? Daphnew Bavelier offers an explanation:
“When people play action games, they’re changing the brain’s pathway responsible for visual processing. These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it”
