Novel Brain-training Research Helps Baseball Players

Results from a study published in the journal Current Biology showed how the University of California, Riverside’s (UCR) baseball team improved their stats after participating in brain-training research. Before the start of the 2013 baseball season, UCR researchers assigned 19 baseball players to complete 30 25-minute sessions of a vision-training video game, with another set of 18 players receiving no training. Players who participated in the training saw a 31 percent improvement in visual activity. Players reported seeing the ball better, greater peripheral vision and an ability to distinguish lower-contrast objects. Researchers found that the trained players had 4.4-percent fewer strikeouts and scored 41 more runs than projected. The results from the study suggest that an integrated approach to perceptual learning-based training has the potential to help not only athletes who are looking to optimize their visual skills, but also individuals in everyday tasks. To read more about this study, click here.