Study: Video Games Might Help Cure Eye Disorder

Well done, video games!

It has, up until now, been assumed by researchers that the eye disorder Amblyopia – better known as “lazy eye” – was irreversible in adults with the condition.  However, a new study suggests that playing video games may help in curing this disorder.

image

Amblyopia is characterized by loss of motor control over one or more eye, resulting in vision loss in severe cases.  Researchers Roger Li, Charlie Ngo, Jennie Nguyen, and Dennis Levi have discovered that adults who play video games using the affected eye experienced “increased plasticity,” or greater movement control in the eye.  They also report increases in visual acuity (33%), positional acuity (16%), spatial attention (37%), and stereopsis (depth perception) (54%).

While the researchers caution that the study included a small sample size, and is in the pilot stage, but the work does suggest that video game play may provide important principles for treating amblyopia, and perhaps other cortical dysfunctions.

SOURCE