Crossing out “professional athlete” from my list of potential excuses, I wasn’t too optimistic.
Next time you find yourself in a multiplayer showdown, wondering why you’re always the easy target, here’s the ultimate alibi: recent findings suggest that some individuals truly perceive the world at a faster pace than others.
In a study titled “The Speed of Sight: Individual Variation in Critical Flicker Fusion Thresholds,” published in the academic journal Plos One, participants were tasked with observing a rapidly flickering light source and determining when it appeared constant. Some participants identified the light as steady even when flashing at 35 times per second, while others distinguished flickering at speeds exceeding 60 times per second.
Repeated experiments with the same participants revealed significant variation between individuals, with those who perceived faster flickering rates demonstrating consistent ability to do so.
According to Professor Kevin Mitchell, a neurobiologist at Trinity College Dublin, “We believe that individual differences in perception speed might become apparent in high-speed situations where one might need to locate or track fast-moving objects, such as in ball sports, or in situations where visual scenes change rapidly, such as in competitive gaming.”
While this study sheds light on why some seem to have a supernatural edge in games, previous research offers hope for the rest of us.
Perceiving flickering light is just one aspect of visual perception; moving images engage different visual systems, and perception can be trained to improve. Games are even utilized in visual therapies to enhance contrast sensitivity, attention abilities, and object tracking.
Perhaps my lack of gaming prowess can be attributed more to practice than to inherent visual limitations. Nonetheless, acknowledging that some possess a natural advantage doesn’t hurt. Personally, I’ll stick to a comfortable 60 fps, finding solace in not needing to chase the elusive pinnacle of smooth gameplay. Every little bit helps, right?
