Physiological and psychophysiological responses to an exer-game training protocol

Abstract

Objectives: Exer-games and virtual reality offer alternative opportunities to provide neuro-rehabilitation and exercise that are fun. Our goal was to determine how effective they are in achieving motor learning goals and fitness benefits as players gain experience. Design: We employed a repeated measures design to determine changes in physical exertion and engagement with training. Methods: Fourteen healthy adults trained on the XBOX Kinect video game Dance Central using a skill-based protocol to examine changes in energy expenditure (EE), heart rate (HR), METs, limb movement, game proficiency, and player engagement in initial, post-training, and transfer-testing of a full-body dance exer-game. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance, p < 0.05. Results: Both EE, HR, and METs increased from initial (EE 4.89 ± 1.35, HR 103 ± 18, METs 4.25 ± 0.72) to post-training (EE 5.92 ± 1.25, HR 110 ± 15, METs 5.05 ± 0.75) and were greatest during transfer-testing (EE 6.34 ± 1.35, HR 115 ± 17, METs 5.42 ± 0.88, p ≤ 0.001). Proficiency, measured by game scores, also increased from initial to post-training and transfer-testing (≤ 0.002). Limb movement and player engagement remained unchanged. Conclusions: It is important to understand whether player physiological and psychophysiological responses change with continued game-play. Although Dance Central involves whole-body movement, physical exertion remained at moderate levels after training. As exer-game and virtual reality systems move from their initial novelty, research about how players react to continued involvement with a game can guide game developers to maintain a freshness through game progression that preserves the participant's attentional focus, minimizes attrition and maintains a prescribed level of energy exertion.