Playing videogames may improve eyesight'

ABS CBN News states.

Research shows that some sensory abilities that may seem permanently impaired can be improved in adulthood, according to lead investigator Daphne Maurer, of McMaster University, in Canada.

Health Enclave says Maurer, who is known for her work on the phenomena of synasthetes, or the ability of certain individuals' brains to perceive and link different senses together (associating a certain sound with a certain colour, for example), presented these findings recently to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The experiment was initially conducted on six adults between the ages of 19 and 31, who had been born with the condition, and were asked to go on a program that tasked them to play first-person shooting games, which involved the use of strategy, vigilance and attention to detail for a period of 10 hours weekly for four weeks.

Playing videogames, which require us to focus straight ahead while tracking what is happening on the periphery and pick out details from high and low contrast colours, can compensate for part of this deficit decades later, The Telegraph notes.

"We used to think that this deficit was permanent, but recent evidence suggests that it may not need to be. The adult brain may still be sufficiently plastic to allow remediation," Maurer said.