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The shouts of parents all over the world may have to be amended in some cases, as McGill University Research team have reported that children with amblyopia have been receiving treatment with albeit limited success via the PC game Tetris.
Tetris is now being recognised as being a tool for improving visual function as sufferers have to WORK both eyes together to be successful at the puzzle.
"Lazy Eye" is commonly treated by patching the visually correct eye for periods of time, forcing the squint eye to work harder.
Special gaming glasses were used for the patient, unlike viewing the game normally on a monitor or television.
The results from the testing were pretty impressive. A four fold improvement was recorded in the test subjects who " gamed" in comparison to those who were given a patching program.
This could aid and assist up to 4% of the population who suffer from amblyopia, The brain's visual cortex is what gives surpressed information from the weaker eye, and as a result monocular vision is experienced. Patients will not experience 3 dimensional vision or have very little perception of 3-D images while patching.
Tetris, it is hoped, will help break the learned suppression of the visual information and improve depth of field for patients.