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Playing action video games enhances spatial resolution of vision, study finds
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Playing action video games can enhance the spatial resolution of visual processing across the visual field, according to a study published in the January issue of Psychological Science.
Daphne Bavelier, PhD, and C. Shawn Green, BA, of the University of Rochester, New York, subjected video game players and non-players to crowding tests, measuring the smallest distance a distractor could be from a target before compromising target identification.
The researchers found that subjects who played action video games could tolerate smaller target-distractor distances. Additionally, subjects who did not normally play video games showed substantial improvements after completing 30 hours of training on action video games, which suggests a causative relationship between playing games and enhanced vision, the study authors said.
However, only first-person action games had the effect on visual processing. Such games typically require players to quickly navigate complex 3-D environments.
"When people play action games, they're changing the brain's pathway responsible for visual processing," Dr. Bavelier said in a press release announcing the study findings. "These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it. That learning carries over into other activites and possibly everyday life."
Video games could potentially benefit elderly patients or patients with amblyopia, the release said.