Researchers from Duke University have put Nike‘s Vapor Strobe eyewear to the test. The glasses, designed to help enhance vision and attention in athletes, rapidly alternates the lenses from clear to opaque for anywhere between 67 to 900 milliseconds. The theory behind the eyewear is that the brain will eventually become trained to see an object’s path more clearly, as it mentally visualizes the ball during the opaque states.
The Duke University researchers studied 500 subjects from a number of varsity sports, testing them through a number of visual-motor tasks, both with and without the Vapor Strobe eyewear (Note: Nike funded the research specifically for marketing the Vapor Strobes). Results showed slight improvement in some areas, but little to no changes in other areas. However, some of the subjects reported that balls seem to move slower when viewed with regular vision after training with the Vapor Strobes.
There’s still a lot of questions about whether the slight improvement will actually last, as well as how much and what kind of training is needed for optimal results, but, if anything, the innovative eyewear could help scientists learn more about how visual cognition works.
Take a look at an athletic exercise that involves the Vapor Strobes:
Press release: Strobe Eyewear Training May Improve Visual Abilities…