I guess it�s time to accept that I�ve reached that age where I start bitching about how good �the kids these days� have things on a regular basis, because I honestly couldn�t think of any other reaction to this story:
At the American Academy of Opthalmology's annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, a team led by Somen Ghosh of the Micro Surgical Eye Clinic in Kolkata, India, reported that video game therapy improved the visual acuity of 10- to 18-year-olds with amblyopia, or "lazy eye".
This comes hot on the heels of similar findings from a study of adults with the condition, published in PLoS Biology by a team led by Roger Li and Dennis Levi of the University of California, Berkeley. Even more impressive results may be on the horizon, as video games are combined with another approach, known as "perceptual learning".
. . .
The idea of using video games stemmed from the discovery that expert gamers have unusually strong visual skills. Subsequent studies have shown that action games can improve contrast sensitivity in people with normal vision.
I mean, what an excellent excuse to while away the hours in front of a screen. No way I would have ever gotten away with that as a kid.
Ah well, speaking as someone whose eyesight is less than optimal, I can at least take comfort in the possibility that I may actually enjoy some of the new treatments coming down the pipe to improve that condition.
I first learned of "lazy eye" when teaching marksmanship (rifle). Standard practice is to keep the non-sighting eye open, but some people have an unexplainable difficulty when doing so. Turns out "lazy eye" is the culprit, as the sighting eye will focus on the sight if the non-sighting eye is open, and in the case of scopes, the sighting eye has to focus short (on the scope) while the non-sighting eye focuses long. There can also be a problem with eye dominance, but it is extremely rare since eye dominance virtually always coincides with hand dominance; right handed shooters essentially always have the right eye dominant, and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how powerful eye muscles are, how much work they do, and how tired they can become without us knowing it. They have a serious shortage of sensory nerves, and can even spasm without us knowing they are doing so.