EXERCISE THAT CORTEX!
Gamification mobile apps enter the field of neuroplasticity with UltimEyes, an app now available for tablets and other mobile devices. An article in Popular Mechanics focuses on the new app and how it improves eyesight through neuroplasticity, the re-wiring of the brain by forming new neural pathways. The app was developed by a neuroscientist Aaron Seitz to help train the brain to process visual stimuli more efficiently.
A 30% VISION INCREASE IS A GRAND SLAM
In a study conducted at the University of California in Riverside, college baseball players who used the app improved their vision by 31% on average, with some able to obtain vision comparable to 20/7.5 (the ability to see at twenty feet what a person with normal vision could see at 7 and half feet). The results of the study indicated that some players who used the app were able to read the lower lines of a typical eye-chart from twice the normal distance away. Seitz concluded that the subsequent batting improvement from using the app during the baseball season allowed the team to score more runs and win up to four additional games!
The app works the visual cortex portion of the brain by presenting visual information, referred to as Gabor stimuli, shown on a gray backdrop. In a game setting, a user is asked to perform short, simple tasks involving the spotting and tapping of faint marks on the screen. Successful tasks are rewarded with a surprisingly gratifying “ping” sound. The tasks get progressively more difficult as the marks become fainter and harder to see.
Seitz compared the exercise of the visual cortex to physical exercise noting “if we exercise our brain in the proper ways, pretty much everything that the brain does should be improved.” On the website promoting the app, Seitz noted that he wanted to use his research “and turn it into a game, that anybody can play, that has real benefits.” UltimEyes is available for Windows, Mac and iPad.
