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Shoot-'em-up games may be good for your eyesight

By Alison Motluk

1 April 2009

DOCTORS may start prescribing a dose of violent conflict, if a trial confirms evidence that computer gaming improves eyesight.

Six years ago at the University of Rochester, New York, exploded the myth that gaming is bad for your eyes by showing that expert gamers outperform non-gamers at a variety of visual tasks (Âé¶¹´«Ã½, 31 May 2003, p 11). Now she has demonstrated that playing action-packed video games improves a person’s ability to perceive contrast, a skill we rely on in dark conditions.

The finding raises the prospect that people with amblyopia, which affects contrast perception, could…

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