Games improve your eyesight?

Apparently there is a new study out from researchers at the University of Rochester that shows evidence of action video games can increase visual acuity by up to twenty percent. The researchers saw no anatomical or physiological change to the eye, but actually rewires neurons to allow the mind to recognize what it sees faster. It is believed that this improvement is caused by the way the eye and the brain recognize 3d environments in games. In the experiment, a group of students was asked to play Unreal Tournament (a 3d shooter) and another group, the control, was asked to play Tetris (a game which is "equally demanding in terms of motor control, but visually less complex" according to the school's article). The group whose mind had to imagine another world in 3 dimensions showed a significant increase in vision tests over students who only had to see in two dimensions.

Now, I know this may seem shocking to a lot of people, but the truth is video games have a lot of benefits that people just don't know about. It's been shown that video games can reduce stress, increase motor-skills and neural activity, and help prevent or even reverse memory loss. Some games have actually been used to help Alzheimer's patients to gain back some memory skills.

The biggest miconception about video games by non-gamers is that it requires no thought, because of the typical vacant expressions and lack of communication while playing. However, a complex game like Unreal Tournament requires players to consider their location, their teammates' and enemies' locations, what weapons everyone has, what weapon to get to have an advantage, where to find that weapon, and countless other things all within a split second. That kind of mental activity will obviously cause neural stimulation. I think as more of these studies are published, more people will realize that games aren't just for lazy, unemployed zombies.

I tried to tell my parents there was a reason I played Halo 2 before my SATs. True story.

The University of Rochester article: http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=2764
USA Today article on games and Alzheimer's: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2006-04-18-brain-age_x.htm