Video game players may get an unexpected benefit from blowing away bad guys—better vision. Playing "action" video games improves a visual ability  51  tasks like reading and driving at night, a new study says. The ability, called contrast sensitivity function, allows people to discern even subtle changes  52  gray against a uniformly colored backdrop. It's also one of the first visual aptitudes to fade with age.  53  a regular regimen of action video game training can provide long-lasting visual power, according to work led by Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester.

Previous research shows that gaming improves other visual skills, such as the ability to track several objects at the same time and  54  attention to a series of fast-moving events. Bavelier said, "a lot of different aspects of the visual system are being enhanced,  55 ."

The new work suggests that playing video games could someday become part of vision-correction treatments, which currently rely mainly on surgery or corrective lenses. " 56  you've had eye surgery or get corrective lenses, exposing yourself to these games should help the optical system to recover faster and better," Bavelier said. "You need to retrain the brain to make use of the better, crisper information that's coming in  57  your improved eyesight".

Expert action gamers in the study played first-person shooters Unreal Tournament 2004 and Call of Duty 2. A group of experienced non-action gamers played The Sims 2, a "life simulation" video game. The players of non-action video games didn't see the same vision  58 , the study says. Bavelier and others are now trying to figure out exactly why action games  59  seem to sharpen visual skill. It may be that locating enemies and aiming accurately is a strenuous, strength-building workout for the eyes, she said another possible  60  is that the unpredictable, fast-changing environment of the typical action game requires players to constantly monitor entire landscapes and analyze optical data quickly.