Action video games sharpen eyesight: U.S. study

[steven johnson]

Here is another bit of evidence that physical activity, albeit with the thumbs, can affect brain functional capacity.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Adults who play a lot of action video games may be improving their eyesight, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.
They said people who used a video-game training program saw significant improvements in their ability to notice subtle differences in shades of gray, a finding that may help people who have trouble with night driving...At the end of the training, the action game players showed an average of 43 percent improvement in their ability to discern close shades of gray, while the Sims players showed none. Bavelier found very practiced action gamers became 58 percent better at perceiving fine differences in contrast.

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE52S1TW20090329

[soothsayer]

1. i totally believe it. also vision training games like Flash Focus for nintendo DS are good

[DS1]

2. I should be able to see in the dark by now

:)

[terisan]

3. Interesting. nt

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. They need to make a video game for the elderly that involves

shopping carts and blue light specials on food and medication. Call it, Cart Crash, Demolition Mama or Stayin' Alive.

[Warpy]

5. I started playing "hidden object" kiddie games after the transplant

and found them quite helpful, if frustrating.

Unfortunately, there just aren't enough of them out there. I tend to remember everything I've found, so memory takes over for eyesight pretty quickly.

[SidDithers]

7. Not sure if it's what you mean...

buy we've got the series of I Spy games on our computer. I like them just as much as the kids, and there are different levels of difficulty available for replayability.

Sid

[NickB79]

6. Trying to spot enemy aliens and/or mutants in a dark room before they kill you will do that

Right now I'm playing Resident Evil 5, and it requires keen eyesight to notice a small box of ammo sitting on a shelf, without which you will run out of ammo and die when you go through the next door.