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science

Science Says Video Games Are Good For Your Eyes

by Kyle Hilliard on Feb 18, 2012 at 10:30 AM

Researchers recently reported findings that playing first-person shooters can help your eyesight.

Scientists took six subjects with cataract disorders and asked them to play Medal of Honor for 40 hours over the course of a month. The subjects played the game for two hours a day, five days a week, for a month. Daphne Maurer of McMaster University in Canada who led the study said that playtime was limited becasue she didn't want to the patients to become addicted to the game. That's also probably the reason they chose Medal of Honor instead of Battlefield 3 or Call of Duty, I assume.

Five of the six participants showed improvement after the month was up. "They were able to recognize faces more easily, as well as make out small print and judge the direction of moving dots." This is good news for EA. They can now put a bullet on the back Medal of Honor boxes that reads, "improves eyesight!"

Maurer said, “the visual nervous system is still plastic enough to either form or reveal connections in adulthood….and we suspect that might be true for any kind of visual defect.”

The next step for Maurer and her team is to create, "the perfect vision-improving non-violent video game." Someone should show them Portal and Portal 2.

Thanks to Andrew for the news tip!

[via Digital Trends]