Video games have grown so much that there are sport events based on them. And maybe it’s for the better – why chess is a sport and a round of a shooting game isn’t? Also, video games help people develop better hand-eye coordination.
But do video game players actually have an edge in dynamic visual skills when compared to physical athletes? Scientists at the University of Waterloo investigated this question.
Video games do improve your eye-hand coordination, but physical athletes still have sharper visual skills than gamers. Image credit: RonnieYang2000 via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Depending on the sport, hand-eye coordination is important for physical athletes as well. There is no denying that catching the ball or hitting it mid-air with a bat requires strong dynamic visual skills. Have you seen what professional football players can do with a ball? Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. But the visual skills of professional gamers are not to be discounted either. They are navigating a rapidly changing environments and they have to act with extreme precision to defeat their virtual enemies. So who comes on top in terms of dynamic visual skills?
Scientists used a dynamic visual acuity skills-test that they designed to measure people’s ability to focus on small things and react to them. It is a well-known fact that physical athletes, especially ones that play European or American football, baseball, basketball or other sports involving high-level of movement, have better dynamic visual acuity. But do gamers?
This study revealed that the difference is quite substantial – action video game players tested closer to non-athletes. Meanwhile physical athletes score highly on dynamic visual acuity tests as expected. This is interesting, because professional sports are trying to integrate new technologies, such as computer simulations, into training regimes. It seems like relying on it might be a mistake. Dr. Kristine Dalton, one of the authors of the study, said: “Our findings show there is still a benefit to training in a 3-D environment. For athletes looking to develop stronger visual skills, the broader visual field and depth perception that come with physical training may be crucial to improving their dynamic visual acuity – and ultimately, their sport performance.”
This is not to say that professional video gamers don’t have the skills. They definitely do. Studies have shown that they have improved hand-eye coordination and gaming requires tremendous concentration and cognitive abilities. Just that their dynamic visual skills are not as great as professional athletes. But even that comparison is impressive in itself – we’re not comparing physical athletes to professional gamers?!
Source: University of Waterloo