Abstract
Purpose :
Our recent findings suggest that stereoscopic 3-dimensional (3D) videogame play boosts stereoacuity. Here we asked if the immersive 3D video game experience could modify contrast sensitivity.
Methods :
Twenty-four healthy young adults with limited previous video game experience were recruited in two groups. In the treatment group (3DVG, n=12), participants were required to play stereoscopic 3D video games for a total of 40 hours (2 hours per session) in 4-5 weeks. First-person shooter action video games were used. In the control group (2DVG, n=12), participants played the same video games but in 2D mode for the same time course. Stereoacuity and contrast sensitivity were measured before and after the video game intervention. (1) Stereoacuity was measured using random dot stereograms. Each random-dot stimulus consisted of a 1-degree central square of random dots embedded in a 3.3-degree square of random dots. The visual task was to determine the stereoscopic depth of the central square (in front of or behind) relative to the outer reference square. (2) Contrast sensitivity was measured binocularly for a range of spatial frequencies (1, 2, 5, 10 & 20 cpd) using a Metropsis system (Cambridge Research Systems, UK). In each trial, a large sinusoidal Gabor patch (Gaussian envelope, SD=1 degree) was displayed randomly at one of four locations on the monitor screen. The visual task was to indicate the target grating location.
Results :
After playing 3D video games, the participants in the treatment group showed a significant improvement of 33.5% in stereoacuity (paired t=3.63, p=0.004), but not in contrast sensitivity (two-way repeated measures ANOVA, F=0.18, p=0.95). Note that in the 2DVG control group, we did not observe any significant change in stereoacuity after the intervention (paired t=0.10, p=0.92).
Conclusions :
Stereoscopic 3D video game play boosts stereoacuity, but not contrast sensitivity. These findings indicate that the neural alterations for enhanced depth perception might have occurred beyond the early stage of visual processing for contrast perception. Notably, our most recent experiments (Li et al 2018) have shown that these types of video games might have a special benefit for triggering the plasticity of stereo vision in patients with amblyopia.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.