Violent video games used a learning tool.

You’re at the front lines shooting Nazis before they shoot you. Or you’re a futuristic gladiator in a death match with robots. Either way, you’re playing a videogame — and you may be improving your vision and other brain functions, according to research presented at a New York University conference on games as a learning tool.

“People that play these fast-paced games have better vision, better attention and better cognition,” said Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester. Bavelier was a presenter at Games for Learning, a daylong symposium on the educational uses of videogames and computer games.

The event, the first of its kind, was an indication that electronic games are gaining legitimacy in the classroom.
Sigmund Tobias of the State University of New York at Albany said an Israeli air force study found that students who played the game “Space Fortress” had better rankings in their pilot training than students who did not. He added that students who played “pro-social” games that promote cooperation were more likely than others to help out in real-life situations like intervening when someone is being harassed.

Bavelier’s research has focused on so-called first-person shooter games like ‘Unreal Tournament’ and ‘Medal of Honor’.

Bavelier said playing the kill-or-be-killed games can improve peripheral vision and the ability to see objects at dusk, and the games can even be used to treat amblyopia, or lazy eye, a disorder characterized by indistinct vision in one eye. She said she believes the games can improve math performance and other brain tasks.

Via Times of India