Peripheral Vision Training: Games, Apps and the Research

What is peripheral vision and the useful field of view?

Peripheral vision is your side vision: everything you see outside the small area you are looking at directly. The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) explains that when side vision is lost, only central vision is left, which people describe as tunnel vision.

The useful field of view is a different idea. It is the area you can take in during a single glance without moving your eyes or head. It depends on attention and processing speed as well as on the eyes. In a 2018 study of 41 adults with healthy eyes, scores on the third part of the test fell with age, and eye chart and contrast results did not explain this.

Our guide to visual brain training covers useful field of view training in older adults, including the ACTIVE trial. This guide focuses on sports and reaction training. Eye movement drills such as jumps between targets and following a moving dot are covered in our guide to eye tracking exercises.

What peripheral vision training cannot do

Training does not bring back side vision lost to eye or brain disease. The National Eye Institute (NEI) says glaucoma usually starts by taking side vision, has no cure, and that treatment does not undo damage that has already happened. An AAO ophthalmologist has written that peripheral vision loss from glaucoma or retinal degenerative disease is "permanent with today's technology," though visual aids and rehabilitation can help.

Stroke can also take part of the visual field. A 2019 Cochrane review says visual field problems are estimated to affect 20% to 57% of people after a stroke. It found insufficient evidence to draw conclusions about therapies meant to restore the lost field. It found low-quality evidence that scanning training, which teaches people to look toward the missing side, improved quality of life but not the visual field itself.

Sudden loss of side vision, a curtain or shadow over part of your vision, or vision loss after a head injury needs care right away. MedlinePlus says "sudden vision loss is always an emergency, even if you have not completely lost vision." Contact an ophthalmologist or go to the emergency room.

Sports vision training: what studies found

Sports vision training uses drills, light boards, strobe glasses and screen tasks to practice seeing and reacting quickly. A 2018 review by Appelbaum and Erickson described the digital tools in use. Our visual brain training guide summarizes it and a 2026 meta-analysis.

Two studies show the kinds of designs used:

• University of Cincinnati baseball, 2012: the team did 6 weeks of preseason vision training, 3 times a week, using a Dynavision light board, flash-recognition tasks, strobe glasses, a Brock string and other drills. Team batting average went from .251 to .285 compared with the season before. The authors wrote that no controls were used. One author disclosed spokesman roles with two companies.
• Youth field hockey, 2012: boys aged 12 to 16 did 6 weeks of sports vision training or no training. The trained group improved on a choice reaction task on a light board and on a field of view task, and the control group did not. Neither group improved on a multiple-object tracking task that was not trained.

Multiple-object tracking and NeuroTracker: what studies found

Multiple-object tracking (MOT) asks you to follow several moving dots at once among identical ones, then point out which ones you were tracking. NeuroTracker is a 3D version that a 2021 review called one of the most popular perceptual-cognitive training tools in sports.

A 2016 study of university soccer players reported that 10 sessions of 3D MOT training improved passing decisions, as rated by one coach. Later studies tested whether gains carry beyond the task. In a 2020 randomized study of 84 adults, NeuroTracker training showed no near transfer to another tracking task and no far transfer to a multitasking test. In a 2025 follow-up with 62 academy soccer players, the same research group found that trained players got better at 3D MOT but not on an attention test or in small-sided games. The authors wrote that the study failed to replicate the earlier result. One author, a co-founder of the company that makes NeuroTracker, disclosed shares in it. A 2025 study of 127 young players found improvement on the trained task after 15 sessions.

A 2021 systematic review of NeuroTracker found no preregistered studies. The reviewers called the evidence for working memory and sustained attention gains "very weak" and found that 2 of the 3 studies testing real-world tasks showed no effect.

Reaction time training: what the studies measured

Reaction time is how fast you respond once you see something. Clinicians and researchers measure it with light boards, screen tests and eye trackers. Our clinic article on visual reaction time testing explains how it is measured.

In two studies, repeating a reaction test made people faster at that test. In a 2022 study, 24 active adults took a 1-minute light board test 30 times over 15 sessions. They got faster through the first half, then stopped improving, and 1 to 2 weeks off made no difference. The authors said about 15 tests are needed before a baseline score is reliable. In a 2019 study of 21 athletes, simply retaking a computer peripheral perception test made peripheral reactions about 0.02 seconds faster, while field of vision scores did not change.

In both studies, the only practice was taking the test itself.

Peripheral vision games and action video games

Action video game studies have also tested peripheral attention. In 2003, C. Shawn Green and Daphne Bavelier reported in Nature that habitual action game players did better than non-players on several attention tasks, and that non-players trained on an action game improved.

In a 2006 study, the same researchers trained 32 non-gamers for 30 hours on either an action game or Tetris. On a task that asked people to locate targets up to 30 degrees from center, the action game group improved at every distance tested, more than the Tetris group.

Not every lab found the same. In a 2008 study, non-gamers played more than 20 hours of an action, puzzle or strategy game, and the authors reported little gain on most cognitive tasks, with some gain in mental rotation.

A 2018 meta-analysis by Bediou and colleagues, including Green and Bavelier, pooled studies from 2000 to 2015. Intervention studies showed an average effect of about a third of a standard deviation, and the authors reported robust gains in top-down attention and spatial skills. The authors found publication bias, estimated that published effects were about 30% larger than in the full literature, and called for more studies with over 30 hours of training. Our guide to brain training apps compares general brain game apps.

Where Optics Trainer fits

Optics Trainer is a set of game-based vision and brain training apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, web browsers and Meta Quest. Its homepage includes sports and performance games for reaction time, tracking and peripheral awareness. Its Drills tab has watch-and-follow drills with no score, in slow, medium and fast speeds and 1, 2 or 3 minute sessions, listed below. Optics Trainer was not part of any study described in this guide. It is not a treatment or diagnosis, is not FDA cleared, does not measure anything and does not restore lost side vision. Our measurement product, Optics Tracker, is on our clinic site, and our clinic article on saccades, pursuits and fixation explains how eye movements are measured.

Optics Trainer is not a substitute for professional diagnosis or prescribed care. Consult your eye care professional for guidance about your specific condition. The phone and tablet apps start with a 7-day free trial, and a free web account includes 3 plays a day. After that, mobile and web access is $14.99 a month or $149.99 a year, and VR access is $19.99 a month or $199 a year after a 7-day free trial.

• Peripheral Awareness: Side View, Wide View, Peripheral Tracking and Peripheral Flashes. You keep your gaze on a central marker and notice targets away from it, a task modeled on the peripheral detection tasks used in the studies above.
• Multiple-Object Tracking: Multiple Dots, Multiple Dots 3D and Spinning Pairs, modeled on the multiple-object tracking tasks described above.
• Saccades and Pursuits drills. Our guide to eye exercises covers this kind of eye movement practice, and the eye tracking guide covers the drills.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. American Academy of Ophthalmology. Tunnel vision
2. American Academy of Ophthalmology. Can tunnel vision be corrected? 2013
3. National Eye Institute. Glaucoma
4. Pollock A, et al. Interventions for visual field defects in people with stroke. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019
5. MedlinePlus. Blindness and vision loss
6. Woutersen K, et al. Useful field of view test performance throughout adulthood in subjects without ocular disorders. PLoS One. 2018
7. Appelbaum LG, Erickson GB. Sports vision training: a review of the state-of-the-art in digital training techniques. Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol. 2018
8. Clark JF, et al. High-performance vision training improves batting statistics for University of Cincinnati baseball players. PLoS One. 2012
9. Schwab S, Memmert D. The impact of a sports vision training program in youth field hockey players. J Sports Sci Med. 2012
10. Romeas T, Guldner A, Faubert J. 3D-Multiple Object Tracking training task improves passing decision-making accuracy in soccer players. Psychol Sport Exerc. 2016
11. Harris DJ, et al. Testing the effects of 3D multiple object tracking training on near, mid and far transfer. Front Psychol. 2020
12. Romeas T, et al. No transfer of 3D-Multiple Object Tracking training on game performance in soccer: a follow-up study. Psychol Sport Exerc. 2025
13. Zhang Y, et al. Three-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) performance in young soccer players: age-related development and training effectiveness. PLoS One. 2025
14. Vater C, Gray R, Holcombe AO. A critical systematic review of the Neurotracker perceptual-cognitive training tool. Psychon Bull Rev. 2021
15. Wells AJ, Johnson BDI. Test-retest reliability, training, and detraining effects associated with the Dynavision D2 Mode A visuomotor reaction time test. J Sport Rehabil. 2022
16. Schumacher N, et al. Peripheral vision tests in sports: training effects and reliability of peripheral perception test. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019
17. Green CS, Bavelier D. Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature. 2003
18. Green CS, Bavelier D. Effect of action video games on the spatial distribution of visuospatial attention. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2006
19. Boot WR, et al. The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control. Acta Psychol (Amst). 2008
20. Bediou B, et al. Meta-analysis of action video game impact on perceptual, attentional, and cognitive skills. Psychol Bull. 2018

Related guides

• Eye Tracking Exercises: Saccades, Pursuits and Fixation
• Visual Brain Training: What It Is, What the Research Says, and How to Practice
• Lumosity vs Elevate vs Peak vs Impulse: Brain Training Apps Compared
• Eye Exercises: What They Can and Can't Do for Your Vision
• Brain Games Backed by Science? The Lab Tasks Behind Them