Want to improve your eyesight? Play violent video games, say researchers.
A new study has revealed that playing violent action games, which involve killing opponents, can help in enhancing people's contrast sensitivity function—the ability to see subtle changes of light and dark against a uniform background.
According to the researchers, contrast sensitivity is very important because it aids eyesight in certain conditions, including driving at night or when there is poor visibility on the roads, which declines with age, leading British newspaper 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.
The researchers from Rochester University in New York, Goldschleger Eye Research Institute and Tel Aviv University in Israel believe their new findings clearly shows that "contrast sensitivity function is affected not only by deterioration in the eye itself, but also in the signals coming from brain".
In their study, they compared the reactions of a group of seasoned gamers with a group of the same age people who did not play computer games often. In fact, they also conducted an experiment where a small sample of non-gamers were asked to play intensively for 50 hours over nine weeks.
The volunteers played either a fighting game, Unreal Tournament 2004, or a Shoot-Em-Up, Call of Duty 2, and the results were compared with another group who played more sedate games for the same time.
Those playing action games saw their ability to discern contrast improve by between 43 and 58 per cent, a rise not mirrored in the other group, according to the findings, published in the 'Nature Neuroscience' journal.