SOME people are just better than others when playing action-packed games like Fortnite, no matter how many hours of practice you put in.
But scientists have just uncovered a reason why – and it’s not because other players are cheating.
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New research from Texas State University has discovered that we all might experience life at different speeds – or frames per second (FPS).
So pro Fortnite gamers might just be seeing the game at a speed you don’t, a separate report by Rock Paper Shotgun pointed out.
The magnitude of the variation… we found between individuals is quite large.
Texas State University
It’s called ‘temporal resolution’, which is used to define how fast your brain interprets what your eyes see.
At a higher temporal resolution, the world will appear very slightly slower to you than someone with lower temporal resolution.
So, it can also be used to explain a person’s cat-like reflexes when it comes to reaction times.
The university study sat 80 people, between the ages of 18 and 35, in front of a light that flickered at gradually increasing speeds.
The light flickered until participants could no longer detect the blinking.
While some participants thought the light stopped flickering at 35 flashes a second, others could still see it at above 60.
That’s a big difference.
And scientists say that level of variation is typically found in species that live in opposing light environments or have different athletic needs.
As study puts it: “The magnitude of the variation… we found between individuals is quite large.
“This amount of variation is comparable with the variation reported among closely related species that occupy different ecological niches, such as having habitats with different luminance levels or having a preference for faster or slower moving prey.”
More research, with larger participant pools, will be required to see how exactly this affects humans in the day-to-day.
“It would therefore be interesting to explore how individual variation in visual temporal resolution in humans may translate to perception and behaviour in real-world scenarios,” the study adds.
“Especially those requiring high-speed perception and action, such as athletic performance or competitive gaming.”
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