Video games help increase processing of visual information

Another submission from the "It should be obvious" department:

CNN.com - Study: Playing video games not so mindless - May. 29, 2003

Researchers at the University of Rochester found that young adults who regularly played video games full of high-speed car chases and blazing gun battles showed better visual skills than those who did not. For example, they kept better track of objects appearing simultaneously and processed fast-changing visual information more efficiently.

To rule out the possibility that visually adept people are simply drawn to video games, the researchers conducted a second experiment. They found that people who do not normally play video games but were trained to play them developed enhanced visual perception.

Exactly why video games have this effect is not clear. The researchers said more study is needed.

Gee. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that in action-packed video games, you have lots of information coming at you quickly, and you have to be able to process it fast if you want to keep playing - and get to the higher and more challenging levels?

Posted by thorswitch at May 30, 2003 02:31 AM | TrackBack