Vista - Study: Video game play may improve eyesight

Playing action video games may help adults improve their eyesight, according to a study released Sunday.

People who used a video-game training program saw improvements in their contrast sensitivity, or the ability to notice subtle differences in shades of gray, according to a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The training could be beneficial to people who have amblyopia--commonly known as lazy eye--and those who have trouble seeing while driving at night, the study said.


"Normally, improving contrast sensitivity means getting glasses or eye surgery--somehow changing the optics of the eye," Daphne Bavelier, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, said in a statement. "But we've found that action video games train the brain to process the existing visual information more efficiently, and the improvements last for months after game play stopped."