How Can Video Games Help Kids Boost Their Peripheral Vision

The gift of eyesight is a huge blessing yet it's often taken for granted. People with visual impairments have so many challenges to deal with. They need different aids to make their vision better. Researchers have found out that children with ocular disruption struggle more to see straight and eventually their peripheral vision is ignored.

Peripheral vision plays a unique and important role in the entire visual field. It helps to assess any movement in the surrounding area. Visual impairments usually create effects on the central area of the eye but the peripheral area remains unaffected and can be improved by focal enhancing techniques. 

UPI shared the views of Duje Tadin, an associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester. Tadin was also the lead author of a study in which children were trained in playing an AVG (Action Video Game) that helped them with their sight.

According to Tadin, the action video games help in the improvement of vision and a kid-friendly video game was designed to target the whole visual field and the results were very promising. There was a 50 percent improvement in the visual perception of the children who were part of the test.

Tadin also added that visual periphery is widely underestimated. But in fact, it helps in many visual functions and is least affected by visionary problems.

Newsmax shared the views of the CEO of Neuro Trainer Jeffrey Nyquist, who helped in a study conducted on 24 children with serious visual impairments. With training, they were able to use their peripheral vision better and subsequently their entire visual perception was improved.

Nyquist said that there was no improvisation in their visual system physically as in the eye system but their brains were trained to focus more on the use of their peripheral vision. Studies also showed that the effects of these action video games lasted more than a year.