Isn’t this a nice little tidbit of news. Usually when we hear about the effects of gaming on people, it’s always focused on the negative outcome of gaming. It’s rare when we hear about games that help give aspiring surgeons an edge, or offer fighter pilots what would seem like natural skill. Well, here’s another article suggesting that gaming isn’t entirely bad for you.

According to [url=http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/070315_video_vision.html]Livescience.com[/url], first person shooters such as Halo can actually help train your brain so you can see better. Sounds unbelievable, huh?

[quote]Most aspects of vision have to do with the size of one’s eye and the thickness and shape of the cornea and lens. But some visual defects are neural in nature…

…First-person action games helped study subjects improve their spatial resolution, meaning their ability to clearly see small, closely packed together objects, such as letters, she said. Game-playing actually changes the way our brains process visual information.

“These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it…

…That learning carries over into other activities and possibly everyday life.[/quote]

That’s quite interesting, and it may be why I find it rather easy to see deer in the road at night from long distances. Or it could just be that being in Maine, I’m accustomed to watching out for deer. Either way, it’s nice to see a study about games that isn’t all bad. Now to just get parents to pay more attention to what games their kids play, and the rest of the game-related problems should be solved.