Video games against eyesight

Study: Video games can help against low vision.

(Sep 25, 2010) Reducing Visual Impairment with Video Games: What sounds like a marketing gag has recently been scientifically proven in a comprehensive study by Berkeley University in California on visual acuity and spatial vision. Video games can significantly reduce low-vision even in adults.

Regular video game exercises in front of a monitor have noticeably improved the visual acuity as well as the spatial vision of the test subjects within a month, according to the University of California researchers' statement on the results of their study. They tested specially programmed video games on 20 adult amblyopia patients aged 20 to 60 years. Amblyopia (Greek: „dull eye“) is the visual impairment of one or, in rare cases, both eyes, which is due to inadequate development of the visual system during early childhood development. Significant treatment successes have been achieved in children in the past by covering the healthy eye with a flap to train the eyesight of the weaker eye, but this method is no longer available to adults.

The results of the current study were all the more astonishing since corresponding treatment results were also achieved in adults. The participants played on 20 days for two hours, with the healthy eye also covered with an eye patch. After one month of treatment, the visual acuity improved by about 30 percent in the subjects and improvements were also observed in spatial vision. Now, further research will follow to unequivocally confirm the benefits of video games. (Fp)

Picture credits: Sarah Grazioli