We all grew up being told by our parents not to sit too close to the TV, not to play games for too long in extended periods and that games where bad for our eyesight. Well recent studies show, at least this last claim, to be false. Fast paced games like First Person Shooters actually enhance vision according to the research.

SLAYING hordes of bad guys in fast-paced video games improves vision, a study has shown for the first time.

Far from being harmful to eyesight, as some had feared, action games provide excellent training for what eye doctors call contrast sensitivity, the study found.

Contrast sensitivity is the ability to notice tiny changes in shades of grey against a uniform background, and is critical to everyday activities such as night driving and reading. It often degrades with age.

The findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, reveal a previously unsuspected adaptability in the brain, and could open the way to new therapies, the researchers said.

”This is not a skill that people were supposed to get better at by training,” said Daphne Bavelier, a professor at the University of Rochester in New York state and the study's lead researcher.

”It was something that we corrected for at the level of the optics of the eye – to get better contrast detection you get glasses or laser surgery.”

Euphoric via news.com.au »