Video killed the radio star, the old song goes — but violent video games, a new Tel Aviv University study finds, can also improve the real-world vision of teens who play them.

Although hundreds of studies link media violence to aggression in children and adolescents, most public policy attempts to reduce children's media violence exposure in the U.S. have failed. Efforts to restrict children's access to violent video games have been struck down by the courts as infringing on children's First Amendment rights.

A new study by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s (MGH) Center for Mental Health and Media dispels some myths and uncovers some surprises about young teens and violent video and computer games.

The last study of the book "Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents" (Oxford University Press, 2007, written by ISU Distinguished Professor of Psychology Craig Anderson, Assistant Professor of Psychology Douglas Gentile, and doctoral student Katherine Buckley, assessed 430 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders, their peers, and their teachers twice during a five-month period in the school year.