Spring Break
Study says video games may improve eyesight
Carlos Militante
Issue date: 2/19/07 Section: News
Remember when your parents told you not to play too many video games because it would hurt your eyes?
Well video gamers rejoice, because a study has shown that fast action video games can improve your vision.
"When people play action games, they're changing the brain's pathway responsible for visual processing," said Daphne Bavelier, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester. "These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it."
According to a press release from the University of Rochester, university researchers gathered a group of students who have either played a lot or have played some video games in the past year.
Researchers said that the students were given a crowding test, which is similar to an electronic eye chart, which showed how well each student could determine the direction of a "T" symbol within a crowd of other distracting symbols.
Researchers then divided the students into two groups. The experimental group played "Unreal Tournament," a fast action first-person shooting game, for about an hour a day for a month - while the source group played Tetris, a slow-paced puzzle game, for the same amount of time.
After the experiment was done, researchers found, that the experimental group that played "Unreal Tournament," showed a 20 percent improvement in identifying the "T" symbols in the crowding test, while the source group that played Tetris showed no improvement.
"Action video game play changes the way our brains process visual information," Bavelier said. "After just 30 hours, players showed a substantial increase in the spatial resolution of their vision, meaning they could see figures like those on an eye chart more clearly, even when other symbols are crowded."
Christy Williams, a junior majoring in illustration at San Jose State University and an employee at EB Games, said that there's a great sense of perspective and realism in first-person-shooter games and that could cause the players eyes to focus more.
Well video gamers rejoice, because a study has shown that fast action video games can improve your vision.
"When people play action games, they're changing the brain's pathway responsible for visual processing," said Daphne Bavelier, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester. "These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it."
According to a press release from the University of Rochester, university researchers gathered a group of students who have either played a lot or have played some video games in the past year.
Researchers said that the students were given a crowding test, which is similar to an electronic eye chart, which showed how well each student could determine the direction of a "T" symbol within a crowd of other distracting symbols.
Researchers then divided the students into two groups. The experimental group played "Unreal Tournament," a fast action first-person shooting game, for about an hour a day for a month - while the source group played Tetris, a slow-paced puzzle game, for the same amount of time.
After the experiment was done, researchers found, that the experimental group that played "Unreal Tournament," showed a 20 percent improvement in identifying the "T" symbols in the crowding test, while the source group that played Tetris showed no improvement.
"Action video game play changes the way our brains process visual information," Bavelier said. "After just 30 hours, players showed a substantial increase in the spatial resolution of their vision, meaning they could see figures like those on an eye chart more clearly, even when other symbols are crowded."
Christy Williams, a junior majoring in illustration at San Jose State University and an employee at EB Games, said that there's a great sense of perspective and realism in first-person-shooter games and that could cause the players eyes to focus more.
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bob
posted 2/06/09 @ 10:04 AM PST
Vedio games are like the most asome things ever there like u know what
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