Turns out all of those years of gaming have ended up turning your fine motor skills and visual acuity into something akin to a cyborg with cyborg cat-like reflexes. And we have Canadians to thank for it.
A recent study at the University of Toronto has discovered that playing video games can increase an indivudual's visual searching skill. The experiments were conducted by PhD candidate Sijing Wu of the University's Psychology Department. Test subjects were given both driving and first-person shooters to play and were then rated on how well they did while searching for targets hidden among backgrounds.
So, basically being a savvy gamer? Aren't we all programmed by decades of gaming to look for the out of place air-vent or off colored stone in the wall in the hopes of discovering a hidden prize? Yes, we are. And those years could pay off by making individuals more skilled at any task that calls for heightened visual searching skills.
According to the Scientist Daily,
"After playing either the shooter or driving game for only 10 hours, participants were faster and more accurate on the three visual search tasks," says Wu. "However, the control participants -- who played the puzzle game -- did not improve."
We knew it. Are you one step closer to being a mechanical/human interface? Let us know what you think.
