Surgeons who play video games on a regular basis are more likely to perform laparoscopic surgery more effectively than those who do not, according to new research.

A study published in this month's edition of Archives of Surgery revealed that doctors who had played computer games for at least three hours in the past seven days made 37 per cent fewer mistakes and performed more quickly when taking a surgical skills test than those who had never played games before.

The research, which was carried out at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, suggested that video games can help to improve skills such as eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills, a notion that has been supported by previous studies.

'It was surprising that past commercial video game play was such a strong predictor of advanced surgical skills,' commented Douglas Gentile, Iowa State University psychology professor and one of the authors of the study.

GamePolitics.com recently reported that one researcher, Christopher Ferguson of Texas A&M International University, analysed past video game studies and discovered that there was little reason to believe a link between gaming and aggressive behaviour existed.