Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) Buddy Up! Harnessing Group Dynamics to Boost Motivation to Exercise. Research has found that people will work harder with a partner in a strenuous physical task than when working alone, especially if the partner is moderately better at the task. This study provides a virtual partner that engages in exercises with participants on the Eye Toy: Kinetic camera-based video game. College-age study participants are randomly assigned to engage in Eyetoy: Kinetic exercises either with a virtual partner or alone. Characteristics of the partner are varied to see which are most effective at improving endurance and exercise time.
Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) Short-Term and Long-Term Effectiveness of Exergames for Young Adults -- investigates effects of the Mount Olympus game, a 3D fantasy role-playing game that requires players to move their upper and lower body in order to control their character's movements throughout the world of the game. Overweight and inactive college students participate in the study, which randomly assigns them either to play Mount Olympus or to use a motivational Web site designed to promote and support physical activity. The study examines the extent to which each media activity meets individuals' needs for competence, autonomy and social relatedness, and how meeting these needs may motivate engagement in the activity. More engagement is expected to lead to more physical activity in daily life and therefore to more weight loss and better health outcomes.
Teachers College, Columbia University (New York, NY) Lit: A Game Intervention for Nicotine Smokers -- develops and evaluates a smoking reduction game delivered on a mobile phone. The game is intended to be an alternative to smoking with the goal of reducing or eliminating tobacco use in players' lives. The game involves breathing into a microphone to control gameplay and is coupled with sound, color, images, challenges and feedback to mimic the stimulant and relaxant effects of smoking. Effects will be evaluated through emotional response and physiological measures (electroencephalogram (EEG), heart rate, galvanic skin response) and compared to subjects after smoking or after playing the game in lieu of smoking. If successful, the game will emulate the effects of smoking as a replacement therapy for smokers who want to quit.
University of California, San Francisco (San Francisco, CA) A Video Game to Enhance Cognitive Health in Older Adults. As people age, they lose some of their ability to sustain their attention and to focus their attention on their main task while ignoring distractions. This study aims to improve these and other related cognitive skills by using a driving game in which players practice paying attention to relevant information, such as traffic signs, and ignoring irrelevant information, such as billboards. The study monitors brain activity with electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings and observes eye position and game performance in younger adults (ages 18 to 30) and older adults (ages 60 to 80) before and after six weeks of game play. The study assesses changes in cognitive ability, brain activity and transfer of game-related skills to similar cognitive operations and activities that take place in daily life.
University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) Robot Motivator: Towards Adaptive Health Games for Productive Long-Term Interaction -- examines the influence of virtual social characters on people's motivation to exercise. Study participants ages 60 and older are randomly assigned to exercise by following the lead of either (1) an embodied character, which is a human-looking robot that demonstrates exercises right there in the room with them or (2) an animated presentation of the same robot on a television screen. The study investigates the role of physical embodiment and social presence on participants' motivation to engage and persist in exercise and physical activity.
SOURCE Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Health Games Research