Scientists from the University of Geneva have noticed that action video games severely stress the player’s “eyes” – his visual system. This load is many times greater than the one a person faces in real life. During the game there are many enemies and objects on the screen at the same time. They move and change rapidly. The player must keep track of this, simultaneously make decisions and perform complex actions. Not all objects can interact and not all represent equal danger. Therefore, the player has to all the time highlight the information from the scene that is important to him to solve the game task at the moment, and discard everything else.
Does it change a person to have to deal with this kind of workload all the time? To answer this question, scientists compared action gamers and people with no gaming experience. (Action games were Grand Theft Auto, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, Marvel vs. Capcom, Call of Duty, and Super Mario Kart.) Test subjects were given special attention tasks. These tasks required naming the shape and location of an object that was presented on the screen for a fraction of a second. The difficulty was created by the fact that simultaneously with the object on the screen appeared distracting objects and tasks. So it turned out that players cope with such tasks much faster and more accurately than non-players.
The authors believe that gamers in general have more attention resources. This means that even under high visual demands, a player is able to discern and control more information than a non-player. The advantage of players is noticeable in both the focus and periphery of attention. That is, players “see” better with lateral vision as well.
So action video games are a visual attention trainer? Not so fast. We know that players are more attentive than non-gamers. But it could also be explained by the fact that video games initially attract only those with excellent attention span (such people find it easier to win, so they become gamers). To understand what is the point, the authors conducted another experiment. It involved only people with no experience in playing video games – a total of 32 people. These people were divided into two groups. Some played Unreal Tournament 2004 for six weeks for a couple of hours a day (30 hours total). The others played Tetris (a game that doesn’t stress your attention span).
At the end of the training, the newly converted action gamers significantly improved their attention span, and overtook the Tetris group in terms of increased ability. This means that gamers’ attention span is the outcome of the positive effects of video games.
In science, the link between video games and attention has already been studied in some detail. In 2003, the authors of this study conducted a similar experiment with similar results, and the article was published in the iconic journal Nature. The interest in the topic of attention training is not accidental. The ability to separate necessary and unnecessary information is associated with high intelligence and creativity. Visual attention ensures success in life activities. For example, it is much more important to have developed visual attention than perfect vision to drive a car. Attentive drivers are better at controlling traffic situations, reacting faster to events, and are less likely to get into accidents. Attention training slows the development of senile intellectual disabilities and reduces the risk of depression. These are just a few reasons why attention training is important for real life. Action video games are a great tool for this.