BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhuanet) -- New research suggests playing action video games that involve firing guns such as "Gears of War,"" Lost Planet," and "Halo" can improve your eyesight.

    Most aspects of vision are physical and depend on the the size of one's eye and the thickness and shape of the cornea and lens. But some visual defects are neural in nature, said Daphne Bevelier of the University of Rochester and author of the new study on vision and video games published in the journal Psychological Science.

    "These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it," she said, in a prepared statement. "That learning carries over into other activities and possibly everyday life."

    First-person action games helped study subjects improve their spatial resolution, meaning their ability to clearly see small, closely packed together objects, such as letters, she said. Game-playing actually changes the way our brains process visual information.

A group of 10 male college students who started out as non-gamers and then received 30 hours of training on first-person action video games showed a substantial increase in their ability to see objects accurately in a cluttered space, compared to 10 non-gamers given the same test, said Bevelier.

    The finding suggests playing first-person action video games could be a useful rehabilitation therapy for people with certain vision problems, she said, such as amblyopia (or lazy eye) and the simple effects of aging.

    Another study has showed playing certain virtual reality games that involved physical motion helped stroke victims improve their ability to walk eventually.

    (Agencies)