Associations of object control motor skill proficiency, game play competence, physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness among primary school children

This study investigated if object control relates to children's game play competence, and examined these competencies as correlates of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness. Game play (Game Performance Assessment Instrument), object control (The Test Gross Motor Development-3), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (Accelerometry), and cardiorespiratory fitness (20-metre shuttle) assessments were completed for 107 children (57% Female, 43% Male) aged 9-12 years (M 10.53, SD 0.65). Two-level regression of object control on game play competence, and object control and game play competence on physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness assessed associations. Object control competence was positively associated with game play competence (Std. B = 0.25, t (104.77) = 2.38, p = 0.001). Game play competence (Std. B = 0.33, t (99.81) = 5.21, p < 0.000) was more strongly associated with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity than object control competence (Std. B = 0.20, t (106.93) = 2.96, p = 0.003). Likewise, game competence (Std. B = 0.39, t (104.41) = 4.36, p < 0.000) was more strongly associated with cardiorespiratory fitness than object control competence (Std. B = 0.22, t (106.69) = 2.63, p = 0.002). Object control and game competence are both important as correlates of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness in children.

Identifying Features of Bodily Expression As Indicators of Emotional Experience during Multimedia Learning

The importance of emotions experienced by learners during their interaction with multimedia learning systems, such as serious games, underscores the need to identify sources of information that allow the recognition of learners’ emotional experience without interrupting the learning process. Bodily expression is gaining in attention as one of these sources of information. However, to date, the question of how bodily expression can convey different emotions has largely been addressed in research relying on acted emotion displays. Following a more contextualized approach, the present study aims to identify features of bodily expression (i.e., posture and activity of the upper body and the head) that relate to genuine emotional experience during interaction with a serious game. In a multimethod approach, 70 undergraduates played a serious game relating to financial education while their bodily expression was captured using an off-the-shelf depth-image sensor (Microsoft Kinect). In addition, self-reports of experienced enjoyment, boredom, and frustration were collected repeatedly during gameplay, to address the dynamic changes in emotions occurring in educational tasks. Results showed that, firstly, the intensities of all emotions indeed changed significantly over the course of the game. Secondly, by using generalized estimating equations, distinct features of bodily expression could be identified as significant indicators for each emotion under investigation. A participant keeping their head more turned to the right was positively related to frustration being experienced, whereas keeping their head more turned to the left was positively related to enjoyment. Furthermore, having their upper body positioned more closely to the gaming screen was also positively related to frustration. Finally, increased activity of a participant’s head emerged as a significant indicator of boredom being experienced. These results confirm the value of bodily expression as an indicator of emotional experience in multimedia learning systems. Furthermore, the findings may guide developers of emotion recognition procedures by focusing on the identified features of bodily expression.

Design and Implementation of Foot-Mounted Inertial Sensor Based Wearable Electronic Device for Game Play Application

Wearable electronic devices have experienced increasing development with the advances in the semiconductor industry and have received more attention during the last decades. This paper presents the development and implementation of a novel inertial sensor-based foot-mounted wearable electronic device for a brand new application: game playing. The main objective of the introduced system is to monitor and identify the human foot stepping direction in real time, and coordinate these motions to control the player operation in games. This proposed system extends the utilized field of currently available wearable devices and introduces a convenient and portable medium to perform exercise in a more compelling way in the near future. This paper provides an overview of the previously-developed system platforms, introduces the main idea behind this novel application, and describes the implemented human foot moving direction identification algorithm. Practical experiment results demonstrate that the proposed system is capable of recognizing five foot motions, jump, step left, step right, step forward, and step backward, and has achieved an over 97% accuracy performance for different users. The functionality of the system for real-time application has also been verified through the practical experiments.

An fMRI Study of the Impact of Block Building and Board Games on Spatial Ability

Previous studies have found that block play, board games, and puzzles result in better spatial ability. This study focused on examining the differential impact of structured block play and board games on spatial processing. Two groups of 8-year-old children were studied. One group participated in a five session block play training paradigm and the second group had a similar training protocol but played a word/spelling board game. A mental rotation task was assessed before and after training. The mental rotation task was performed during fMRI to observe the neural changes associated with the two play protocols. Only the block play group showed effects of training for both behavioral measures and fMRI measured brain activation. Behaviorally, the block play group showed improvements in both reaction time and accuracy. Additionally, the block play group showed increased involvement of regions that have been linked to spatial working memory and spatial processing after training. The board game group showed non-significant improvements in mental rotation performance, likely related to practice effects, and no training related brain activation differences. While the current study is preliminary, it does suggest that different “spatial” play activities have differential impacts on spatial processing with structured block play but not board games showing a significant impact on mental rotation performance.

Effects of Playing a Serious Computer Game on Body Mass Index and Nutrition Knowledge in Women

Background

Obesity and weight gain is a critical public health concern. Serious digital games are gaining popularity in the context of health interventions. They use persuasive and fun design features to engage users in health-related behaviors in a non-game context. As a young field, research about effectiveness and acceptability of such games for weight loss is sparse.

Objective

The goal of this study was to evaluate real-world play patterns of SpaPlay and its impact on body mass index (BMI) and nutritional knowledge. SpaPlay is a computer game designed to help women adopt healthier dietary and exercise behaviors, developed based on Self-Determination theory and the Player Experience of Need Satisfaction (PENS) model. Progress in the game is tied to real-life activities (e.g., eating a healthy snack, taking a flight of stairs).

Methods

We recruited 47 women to partake in a within-subject 90-day longitudinal study, with assessments taken at baseline, 1-, 2-, and 3- months. Women were on average, 29.8 years old (±7.3), highly educated (80.9% had BA or higher), 39% non-White, baseline BMI 26.98 (±5.6), who reported at least contemplating making changes in their diet and exercise routine based on the Stages of Change Model. We computed 9 indices from game utilization data to evaluate game play. We used general linear models to examine inter-individual differences between levels of play, and multilevel models to assess temporal changes in BMI and nutritional knowledge.

Results

Patterns of game play were mixed. Participants who reported being in the preparation or action stages of behavior change exhibited more days of play and more play regularity compared to those who were in the contemplation stage. Additionally, women who reported playing video games 1-2 hours per session demonstrated more sparse game play. Brief activities, such as one-time actions related to physical activity or healthy food, were preferred over activities that require a longer commitment (e.g., taking stairs every day for a week). BMI decreased significantly (P<.001) from baseline to 3-month follow-up, yielding a large effect size of 1.28. Nutritional knowledge increased significantly (P<.001) from first to third month follow-ups, with an effect size of .86. The degree of change in both outcomes was related to game play, baseline readiness to change, and the extent of video game play in general.

Conclusions

This work demonstrates initial evidence of success for using a serious game as an intervention for health behavior change in real world settings. Our findings also highlight the need to understand not only game effectiveness but also inter-individual differences. Individualizing content and the intervention medium appears to be necessary for a more personalized and long-lasting impact.

Individual and Instructional Determinants of Student Engagement in Physical Education

This study was conducted to identify student characteristics and instructional factors that impact student engagement in physical education (PE). Data were derived from the systematic observation of 124 sessions taught by 31 physical educators and the administration of health and PE engagement questionnaires to 2,018 students in grades 5-8. Physical activity was directly affected by student engagement and perceived competence in PE and indirectly affected by students' body image through its association with PE engagement. Multilevel analyses revealed that the proportion of class time devoted to game play was negatively associated with student engagement in PE. Although less frequently used during PE sessions, skill practice was positively associated with student engagement and inactive instruction was negatively associated with student engagement. These effects were particularly pronounced among students with poor competence beliefs. Implications for PE instructional practice and future research are presented.