Enhancing the contrast sensitivity function through action video game training

Abstract

The contrast sensitivity function (CSF) is routinely assessed in clinical evaluation of vision and is the primary limiting factor in how well one sees. CSF improvements are typically brought about by correction of the optics of the eye with eyeglasses, contact lenses or surgery. We found that the very act of action video game playing also enhanced contrast sensitivity, providing a complementary route to eyesight improvement.Contrast sensitivity, the ability to detect small increments in shades of gray on a uniform background, is one of the main limiting factors in a wide variety of visual tasks 1 . Unfortunately, it is one of the aspects of vision that is most easily compromised. This problem affects thousands of people worldwide, including those with professional activities requiring excellent eyesight, aging populations 2 and individuals who are clinically evaluated for vision problems such as amblyopia 3 . Although deterioration of the optical quality of the eye can decrease contrast sensitivity 3 , optical changes alone cannot account for the diverse array of situations in which the CSF is compromised. Instead, neural factors also appear to be at work. It may therefore be possible to develop interventions that enhance the CSF through neural plasticity. Such an intervention would be of great clinical benefit as a complement to the standard clinical approaches, which are mainly directed at enhancing the optical quality of the eye.Sizeable performance improvements, brought about through brain plasticity, have been documented in various aspects of vision after training 4 . Yet identification of a training regimen that can improve the CSF, or contrast detection, has remained elusive. Traininginduced improvements have been reported for contrast discrimination 5 but not for contrast detection 6,7 . In addition, the documented improvements are typically restricted to the trained stimulus, limiting their practical and theoretical value. The CSF per se has proven difficult to improve. There are some indications that radiologists may exhibit enhanced contrast sensitivity 8 , but the causal effect of experience remains to be established. Studies that directly address training-induced changes in contrast detection show improvements only when using experimental conditions that are known to produce poor performance, such as testing away from fixation or using diagonal orientations 9,10 . Yet, to be clinically relevant, CSF improvements need to be documented in foveal vision and with cardinal orientations, where human performance is at its best. To the best of our knowledge, CSF improvements Expert action video game players (VGPs) were compared to gender-and age-matched nonaction game players (NVGPs) in a CSF procedure 11 ( Fig. 1a and Supplementary Note 1 online). Because we were interested in the effect of gaming on everyday eyesight, participants were tested binocularly with their current eye prescription. We were interested in whether vision, which should not be far from optimal under such conditions in young ad...

Nurturing brain plasticity: impact of environmental enrichment

“…[119][120][121] A recent study in nonamblyopic subjects provides indirect support to the important role of visual attention in driving visual cortex plasticity, showing that normal-sighted people trained with action-based video games have robust improvements in basic visual functions. 122 The same effect was not observed after nonaction video game playing (equally engaging and visually complex, but operating at a slower pace and not requiring precise visually guided actions), suggesting that allocation of attention is a fundamental component for the effectiveness of the training paradigm. 123,124 Beyond the Sensory Cortex: EE Effects on Animal Models of Cognitive Impairment…”

Twenty years of load theory—Where are we now, and where should we go next?

“…Those in the action-video-game group show significantly greater pre-to posttest improvements in many selective attention tasks (Cohen, Green, & Bavelier, 2007;Feng, Spence, & Pratt, 2007;Green & Bavelier, 2003. Furthermore, two such studies have followed up on participants and tested them a third time, from several months to several years after the experiment (Feng et al, 2007;Li, Polat, Makous, & Bavelier, 2009). with both studies showing that the majority of participants retained their training-related improvements over time.…”

Action video game training for cognitive enhancement

“…This includes improvements in visual sensitivity [24,29], basic perimetry [20], perceptual decision making [30], speed of processing [31,32], perceptual simultaneity and temporal order judgments [21], in the capacity to select task relevant information across space [23,33 ,34-36,37 ,38] and time [23,33 ,39,40], to overcome attentional capture [41,42] and utilize cognitive control [25], in the ability to track multiple moving objects [23,43,44], to mentally rotate complex shapes [36], to remember visually presented information [45,46], and to either rapidly switch between tasks [47 , [48][49][50][51][52] or to perform multiple tasks concurrently [51,53] (although see [54][55][56][57] for failures to find such effects). The available research also strongly contradicts the popular conception of the 'triggerhappy' video game player who is willing to trade reductions in accuracy for increased speed.…”