For those of you looking for a fresh new excuse for playing videogames instead of studying for your Biological Psychology midterm, here’s one I might actually buy into.
Daphne Bavelier and Shawn Green of the University of Rochester demonstrated that participants who played 30 hours (over a one month period) of Unreal Tournament, a first-person shooter, showed a 20% improvement in visual acuity. In contrast, the control group playing Tetris showed no improvement.
One has to ask what 30 hours of Tetris would do to your brain, however….
The action game participants showed visual improvements beyond the part of the visual field used to play the game, suggesting that the players’ brains had changed the way they processed visual information. At my age, I can use all the visual acuity I can get, and if you can have fun getting there, why not?
9 Comments
BSOUTH · February 8, 2007 at 1:23 am
It is very interesting that video games can improve visual acuity, but aren’t there more productive things to do than sit around and play video games? I understand that 30 hours in a month isn’t an overwhelming amount of time, but what if the average person invested that time, that 30 hours, in something like exercise or physical activity? Would that not improve that person’s fitness, physical health, and overall well-being? Studies have shown that physical activity does actually affect individual’s stress levels, and exercise is proven to decrease stress and often increase self-esteem. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Richard Simmons here, I do my share of couch-potatoing just like the next guy or gal… it’s just a thought.
lnseeley · February 9, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I think it’s awesome that research has shown benefits to playing video games. If people are going to play, then they will do it even if they should be engaging in other (possibly more physical) activities. At least they are getting some sort of health benefit from playing their games! I definitely agree that playing games like Tetris change the way people process visual info. I was talking with a friend that works at a grocery store, and he said bagging groceries is similar to playing a game like Tetris… you want to maximize available space. I thought that was an interesting way of looking at it! In my opinion, video games are not going to go away and people are not going to stop playing them, so at least they are gaining some sort of benefit from the activity!
toniobrown · February 13, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Its a joy that something like this came out of playing video games. Especially because now a days all the video games look so realistic and are getting very popular. One of the reasons why I am not into video games is because they are really addicting and thus a big distraction, but after hearing about this research it makes me want to indulge myself into video games. I hope that there is more research done depicting which type of video games specifically are helpful for ourselves. I would also like to see more research done on the amount of time that is good for a person to play video games that is beneficial. What a great new topic of research to explore!
Laura Freberg · February 15, 2007 at 10:58 pm
I agree that videogames can be a bit of a trap for students who have other things they’re supposed to be doing. But given a choice between sedentary TV watching and sedentary videogaming (and with the Wii, games may become much less sedentary), I would prefer to see people playing games. At least the brain is actively involved, which rarely seems the case during plain TV watching (although I confess to being a bit of a Stargate/Star Trek junkie).
aforney · February 16, 2007 at 11:25 am
My brother would love to hear that his hours of playing World of War craft was doing more for him than just taking up his time. I was surprised to see that playing Tetris has no effect on the brain at all. Tetris involve a little bit of critical thinking and speed and is one of my favorite games to play on my phone. I guess I should try a video game. I’m always up for trying things which could help improve anything about me!
alleyj · February 28, 2007 at 10:10 pm
This study actually suprised me- i remember as a little kid playing super nintendo and my mom only allowing a specific amount of time a week because we were “ruining our eyes.” But then again that was 10 years ago and I was never into sharp shooting games tetris was more my style. But i definitely will share this with my friends who play all sorts of shooting games for way more than 30 hours a month.
huggydrea · March 7, 2007 at 1:29 am
This study makes a lot of sense to me. Some of those video games take extraordinary hand, eye coordination and concentration. Although video games seem to be for “lazy” people I know a lot of athletic and artistic peolpe who play video games way more than 30 hours a month.
R.Nickles · December 1, 2007 at 9:32 pm
I’ve really enjoyed reading the different posts about video games… I’ve always been so adamant that “video games are bad” without any real reasons besides, “they’re a waste of time”. But now I feel like I have great reasons to talk about regarding some actual benefits of video games. The visual acuity this post discusses makes perfect sense, as a player must be ready to act on any movement he/she senses. I think that’s great! I do feel sorry for those poor Tetris players though… =(
Vix · May 1, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I normally play video games late at night, but I always do my best becoming the most skilled. To me, computers and video games are the only two things of entertainment that I really enjoyed in my entire life. Since I’m really not interested in anything else. You know that I’m very much an Anti-Disney person. I have been a computer addict and gaming expert since I was young, and I still am today. I’m also a great artist, who has drawn artwork for our sites for years.
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