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Video Gamers See the World Differently

Posted by Soulskill on from the we-weren't-lying-to-our-parents-after-all dept.

trendspotter points out this research from Duke University: "Hours spent at the video gaming console not only train a player's hands to work the buttons on the controller, they probably also train the brain to make better and faster use of visual input, according to Duke University researchers (abstract). 'Gamers see the world differently,' said Greg Appelbaum, an assistant professor of psychiatry in the Duke School of Medicine. 'They are able to extract more information from a visual scene.' ... Each participant was run though a visual sensory memory task that flashed a circular arrangement of eight letters for just one-tenth of a second. After a delay ranging from 13 milliseconds to 2.5 seconds, an arrow appeared, pointing to one spot on the circle where a letter had been. Participants were asked to identify which letter had been in that spot. At every time interval, intensive players of action video games outperformed non-gamers in recalling the letter."

6 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Shocking... by geek42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Breaking news: gamers better at playing games.

    1. Re:Shocking... by centipedes.in.my.vag · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Things don't mimic reality in video games. For example, shotguns.

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      Only on /. can I lose karma with 2x "5, Funny" posts.
    2. Re:Shocking... by ACELLC · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Breaking news: gamers better at playing games.

      Exactly. I wonder how good they would be at identifying objects in a more natural environment. Drop a bunch of gamers off in the country, give them certain visual/memory tasks, and see if they perform better than a group of non-gamers.

      "How many horses are standing in the shade under the tree?" "Is the corn crib to the right or left of the barn?" "What gauge shotgun is the farmer shooting at you with from his porch?

      I'd start with something less technical like: "What is that green stuff covering the ground?" or "What is that large glowing object in the sky?"

  2. Re:Faster isn't better by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's nothing preventing a video game player from playing in sports and having adequate physical activity. After all, even extreme athletes know there is a rest period.

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    God spoke to me
  3. chicken or egg by Tweezak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does gaming make you better at these tests or is it just that people that have these particular skills tend to gravitate to action video games?

  4. Re:I can believe this by Ultracrepidarian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So they deleted the data points that didn't fit their predetermined bias.