wow, video games improve eye sight.

RIPMAX90 · 02-09-2007

Quote:

Playing high-action video games for a few hours each day can improve your vision, according to researchers in the US. But an eye expert in the UK called their findings into question.

The researchers from the University of Rochester in New York found that people who play video games for a few hours a day over the course of a month can improve certain aspects of their vision by about 20 percent.
Playing the games changes the pathways in the brain responsible for visual processing, as the brain adapts to the additional pressure that playing such games puts on the visual system, they said.
The researchers found a group of students who played little or no video games -- which was a challenge in itself -- and gave them a test that measured how well they could discern the orientation of a letter "T" within a crowd of other, distracting symbols.
They then divided the students into two groups. One group was told to play the shoot-em-up game Unreal Tournament for an hour each day for a month, while a control group played Tetris, a less visually complex game.
After about a month, the students playing the action game could determine the orientation of the "T" much more easily than before, while the Tetris players showed no improvement, the researchers said.
The T test measures visual acuity, or the clarity of a person's vision, according to the researchers, who are Daphne Bavelier, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences, and graduate student Shawn Green.
That means playing video games should improve your ability to identify letters on a standard eye-test, they said.
An optometry expert in the UK disagreed, however. The American researchers are confusing visual acuity with visual search, which is what the T test really measures, according to Maggie Woodhouse, a senior lecturer in the School of Optometry and Vision Sciences at Cardiff University.
"The test they're using is not for visual acuity," she said after being told of the research. "They've trained their students to make rapid eye movements and to scan large areas to find objects of interest. ... That is visual search."
There may indeed be a benefit from playing high-action video games, she said, but it will be in the ability to locate objects in a large or crowded area. That means it could help you pick out a friend's face at a football game, or play a fast-moving sport like ice hockey.
The improvement may not last for very long, however, and Woodhouse seemed to consider the overall impact of video games a negative one. Playing for too long can cause eye strain, she said. She also joked that playing video games "gives you brain damage," although that seemed to be her subjective view rather than a scientific one.
The researchers at Rochester University could not immediately be reached for comment. They said the results of their test suggest that people with visual defects could improve their visual acuity with special software that mimics the need to identify objects quickly in an action game.

http://www.digitmag.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=7176

I guess that could be why my ight hasnt gotten worse in the past 3 years even though i'm supposed to wear glasses, but i dont anyway.

SadistiK Gulla · 02-09-2007

that is not true at all. since playing video games i have seen a dramatic decrease in my eyesite

Spillz · 02-09-2007

i wish my eyes didn't suck so bad, damn video games....

Although i've heard that most of the time it isn't genetics that screws up your eyes, it's the constant stare at a monitor that puts strain on your eyes.

You are supposedly able to help correct your visions by doing this a couple times a day
Close your eyes not tightly or anything and breath in slowly and slowly tense up some major muscle groups in your body, the more the better and it doesn't have to be ridiculously tensed up, then slowly exhale and release tension on your muscles. do that for about 5 minutes - 20 minutes like 3 times a day.

Doing this tricks your body to kind of tense up your eyes so to speak, increasing blood flow to that area. Kinda like exercising your eyes.

RedMorning · 02-09-2007

I've played video games for along time, well over 10 years consistantly. I got glasses in grade 6, started playing in like grade 2 or 3. Got a new pair of glasses in grade 10 and new prescription (Slight change in my left eye, right was the same). I resently went for another test and said my right eye changed very little and my left is the same (I got chemicals that you werent suppose to get in your eyes twice while I was at work, 2 different occasions, so that was most likely the cause of that. Even though the change was only minimal.)

N1NJA · 02-09-2007

video games made my eye sight way worse...i used to have bad eye sight but not horrible...but now since i've had my 360 im legally blind...like literally...

Polkau · 02-09-2007

20 20 for me,

i plan to keep it that way

Exiled Bandit · 02-09-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polkau

20 20 for me,

i plan to keep it that way

Woot same here *high five*, but sometimes videogames tend to strain my eyes a bit, but it's nothing catastrophic.

lI AL3X Il · 02-10-2007

This might be tru but i doubt it becuz my eye sight went from a -5 in both eyes to -6.25 in the past 3 years(i wear glasses and i got them in the 2nd-3rd grade), but it might have been a even bigger change if i wasnt playing video games eh?

Flex · 02-10-2007

If you do what they tell you to do, Such as play in well lit conditions and have breaks when playing, your eyesight shouldn't be damaged that much.

My eyesight is pretty good, and I used to play games quite a bit

CORE · 02-10-2007

I have 20x20. I remember last time i was at the doctors office i could read all the way down to just before the very last line.