(Screenshot of Call of Duty: Black Ops)

The biggest complaint made about action games like "Call of Duty" and "The Elder Scrolls" is that they are too violent and may lead to the players becoming more violent. But recent studies have shown that players who play action games may have positive benefits that can improve vision, attention, and cognition. Daphne Bavelier, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, conducted a study that measured the skills of people that play action games and those that do not play any video games at all. When the study was concluded, it showed that those who do not play video games had lower scores than the video game players on tests measuring attention, speed, accuracy, vision, and multitasking.

"Contrast sensibility", which is the ability to see subtle shades of gray, was the type of vision that vieo game players had improved. This type of vision is incredibly useful when people are driving through fog. Smaller type size was also improved when tested with people who do not play video games. Gamers were also able to detect new information at a faster rate making gamers more efficient. Gamers were also able to switch from one task to another ata faster rate making them better multitaskers.

The reason gamers need to improve these skills while playing video games is because there is so much going on in the screen that the gamers need to constantly be thinking. Not only are they paying attention to what is happening on the screen, they are also trying to complete the goal of the game, whatever it may be. With so many complexitities happening all at one time, it is no wonder that gamers need to improve their cognitive abilitites to play these types of action games.

Source: www.npr.org/2010/12/20/132077565/video-games-boost-brain-power-multitasking-skills