Once considered the enemy of the childâs eye, recent medical research has shown that video games can have a beneficial effect on vision. Now a psychologist at McMaster University in Canada says the 40 hours of action-packed gaming could significantly improve the vision of people born with cataracts.
https://lastchance.cc/scientists-want-to-use-video-games-to-help-kids-eyes-5878582%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Psychologist Daphne Maurer of McMaster University believes sheâs found a new way to treat congenital cataracts: 40 hours of action video games. âAfter playing an action video game for just 40 hours over four weeks, the patients were better at seeing small print, the direction of moving dots, and the identity of faces.â
With previous research demonstrating how the same 40 hours of gaming can help treat amblyopia (AKA lazy eye), that the same sort of treatment might work on cataracts makes perfect sense. Itâs a sort of eye training that essentially doesnât give the eyes time to ponder what they should or should not do.
Dr. Maurer will be presenting her findings to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver, in a session called The Effects of Early Experience on Lifelong Functioning: Commitment and Resilience. After that, who knows? Between this and the story on games being used to test childrenâs vision, eye doctor offices might slowly transform into the arcades of tomorrow.
Just 40 hours of video gaming âcan cure cataractsâ, claims psychologist [Daily Mail]
