 The
next time your mother or father tells you to ‘stop playing that video
game’ tell them it is actually good for your eyesight. Yes, a violent
video game that tests your hand-to-eye coordination to the limit may be
just what the doctor ordered to improve your eyesight, especially the
ability to see in the dark.
Doctors may start prescribing a dose of violent conflict, if a trial
confirms evidence that computer games improves eyesight. Choose from
among dozens of ultra-violent video games on a variety of platforms
including PC CD-ROM.
According to a study published in the latest issue of Nature
Neuroscience, playing action-packed video games improves a person’s
ability to perceive contrast.
This is a skill we rely on in the dark.The study by Daphne Bavelier
is a boon for the video game industry, which is now seeing cut throat
competition among the Sony Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. It
was Bavelier (University of Rochester, New York), who six years ago
proved that gaming is not bad for your eyes by showing that expert
gamers outperform non-gamers at many visual tasks.
The latest study proposes that people with amblyopia, which affects
contrast perception, could be treated with games. A trial is underway.
 Amblyopia,
is also known as “lazy eye”. Basically, the brain fails to correctly
register signals from one eye. It can be treated in children but often
goes undetected. Until now, there was no way to treat the condition in
adults. This is where the darkest, bloodiest video games known to man
step in to cure it.
 What
Bavelier did was simple: she randomly assigned 13 healthy young adults
to play action games and more sedate games for 50 hours over nine weeks.
While contrast perception of everyone improved, the action-game group
showed 43 per cent improvement on average, compared with 11 per cent in
the other group. The effect persisted for months.
So finally, there is no need for surgery or corrective lenses to
alter contrast sensitivity. Dennis Levi of the University of California,
Berkeley, has started a trial to see whether gaming can help people with
amblyopia.
If the trial is promising, more doctors are likely to write this in
your prescription: Modern Warfare 2 or Resident Evil 5, three times a
day. At last, you don’t have to feel guilty about playing a ‘shoot them
up’ video game. So keep an eye on the latest video games in these pages.
- Pramod
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