If you are going in for surgery let's hope he/she does. CNN is reporting on a recently completed study that surgeons with who had at some point played video games at least three hours a week performed precise laparoscopic surgery faster and with fewer errors compared to surgeons with no video game background.

"Out of 33 surgeons from Beth Israel Medical Center in New York that participated in the study, the nine doctors who had at some point played video games at least three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, performed 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better in the test of surgical skills than the 15 surgeons who had never played video games before."

Of course this is for a specific type of surgery that involves manipulating instruments through a small incision where the surgeon's movements are guided by watching a television screen. Hmmm. Also the study was rather small and thus prone to error. Of course 94% of adolescents play video games so this type of study is less likely to have an impact as a new generation of surgeons begin to practice.

I don't think "99% headshot frag count" shouldn't be included in a doctor's curriculum vitae.

I'm not surprised, the hand-eye coordination benefit of gaming advocates has proven to be a reality!

Although I do see some benefit from gaming in precise control of instruments, I would be willing to bet that there are other reasons for the difference in how these surgeons performed. Also, I notice that they point out that the surgeons played games "at some point" for at least 3 hours per week. What does "at some point" mean? Does it mean that they may have done so 5 years ago? If it's been that long since they played, then I have to tell you that the gaming isn't affecting their skills any longer.

Anyhow, like you said, the study group is so small that it's inaccuarate to begin with. Let's take a survey of 1000 surgeons and limit the game playing to "at least 3 hours per week for at least 10 consecutive weeks within the last year" and see what results we find. And, also limit it to specific kinds of games... solitaire does not improve surgery. :D

What if there team killers? your in the brown stuff then!

LOL!

If you want my opinion this whole "playing video games improves your co-ordination" thing is simple stereotyping. Playing videogames might give you a faster reaction time to visual input, but I don't see how that would help you perform surgery on a severed frontal lobe.

What about guitarists that shred? That involves a lot more precise movements than any fps. The only thing I think a fast paced fps may help is your ability to process thought at a much faster rate than a normal person. Being able to plan ahead while doing a task that involves speed at the same time. I still think guitarists would do better in med school.

But they're not looking at frets on a guitar neck, nor are they forming chords. They're looking at a screen, and using instruments accordingly. It's an entirely different challenge that doesn't resemble guitar playing on any level. Not only that, but skilled guitarists mostly don't look at the frets, they play by feel and memory. Playing video games causes action and reaction based on what is seen, and that's an entirely different sensory experience involving entirely different parts of the brain to produce entirely different results.

No, that would mean guitarists would be better at foreplay :)

Though I must admit, playing video games do increase your visual ability to notice details. At least I've personally experienced occurances where I subjectively think that I am aware of more details than the average person.

Well that's why we have Guitar Hero. DUUUUH.