Daphne Bavelier, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University, and leader of the study, said: "Players can process visual information more quickly and can track 30% more objects than non-players," She added, "Several game players even achieved perfect scores on tests barely do-able for non-game players."
The study suggests that in addition to making game players more aware of their surroundings while performing tasks such as driving, action game playing might be a useful tool to rehabilitate visually impaired patients or to train soldiers for combat.
Two experiments were carried out in the study. The first on 16 games fans – all of whom were male, as only a single fanatic female gamer could be found on campus. The second experiment concerned 17 non-gamers, male and female.
Both groups were given a series of tests requiring the spotting of an object shown on screen for 1/160th of a second; counting the number of objects shown on screen at the same short period of time and finally, identifying a white letter shown among a succession of rapidly flashing black letters.
In all tests the gamers consistently demonstrated better visual awareness.
The researchers then re-tested the non-gamers after they had played a game for an hour a day over a two-week period. Half of the group played Tetris, a puzzle oriented game, while the other half played the action game Medal of Honour.
The researchers found that the action players showed a marked increase in their test performances, which the Tetris players did not.
"It's likely the sense of danger heightens awareness and trains the visual response of the brain, but other aspects might also contribute," said researcher Shawn Green. "On the other hand, the Tetris players, while scoring low on our tests, might score well if testing for ability to rotate and organise objects."
The Nature report suggests that if the brain can be trained to have heightened visual attention by the playing of video games, then it might be especially useful for helping patients with neurological visual impairments to see more normally.
However Green and Bavelier point out that gaming is no substitute for building other areas of the brain, and that exercises that demand prolonged attention, such as reading or solving math problems, are likely not helped at all by extensive game-playing.