Video-game violence can improve eyesight, study finds

Published on Sunday 29 March 2009 23:30

EYESIGHT can be improved by playing violent video games, a study has found.

Scientists found playing violent action games that involve killing opponents enhanced contrast sensitivity – the ability to notice subtle changes of light and dark against a uniform background. This is important in situations such as driving at night or in fog, and for reading. It declines with age.

Playing non-action games did not appear to have the same therapeutic effect. Crucially, the benefits lasted for months and, in some cases, years.

US and Israeli scientists studied expert game players and found they had better contrast sensitivity than players of non-action video games. They then set up an experiment involving two groups of volunteers.

One group learned how to play two different action games – Unreal Tournament 2004 and the Second World War game Call of Duty 2.

The other group focused on a non-action game, Sims 2.

A few days before and after the training period, participants had their contrast sensitivity tested. Players of the two violent action games saw an improvement of 43 per cent compared with 11 per cent for the Sims players. Subsequent tests showed the benefits were long lasting, and still having an effect after more than two years.

The researchers, led by Dr Daphne Bavelier from the University of Rochester, New York, wrote in the journal Nature Neuroscience: "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to identify a training regimen that improves performance over nearly the entire CSF (contrast sensitivity function) in adults."