Action-video-game experience alters the spatial resolution of vision

Abstract

Playing action video games enhances several different aspects of visual processing; however, the mechanisms underlying this improvement remain unclear. Here we show that playing action video games can alter fundamental characteristics of the visual system, such as the spatial resolution of visual processing across the visual field. To determine the spatial resolution of visual processing, we measured the smallest distance a distractor could be from a target without compromising target identification. This approach exploits the fact that visual processing is hindered as distractors are brought close to the target, a phenomenon known as crowding. Compared with nonplayers, action-video-game players could tolerate smaller target-distractor distances. Thus, the spatial resolution of visual processing is enhanced in this population. Critically, similar effects were observed in non-video-game players who were trained on an action video game; this result verifies a causative relationship between video-game play and augmented spatial resolution.

Figures

Fig. 1

Illustration of the test stimuli. The stimuli consisted of three T shapes randomly oriented either right side up or upside down. The subject’s task was to indicate the orientation of the center T. In separate blocks, three eccentricities were tested—0°, 10°, and 25°. The size of the Ts was set to be 1.5 times each individual subject’s T-alone threshold at each eccentricity.

Fig. 2

Crowding thresholds in Experiments 1 and 2. In Experiment 1 (a), thresholds of action-video-game players (VGPs) and non-action-video-game players (NVGPs) were compared. In Experiment 2, NVGPs were trained on an action video game (b) or a control game (c), and their crowding thresholds were measured before (“Pre”) and after (“Post”) training. Standard errors of the means for all data points were less than the size of the squares denoting the values. Significant differences between thresholds at the same eccentricity are indicated by asterisks, *prep > .92.