The Effects of Acute Exercise and Virtual Reality Tasks on Children’s Memory Function and Exercise Preference

Charalampos Krommidas, Evangelos Galanis, Emmanouil Tzormpatzakis, Mary Mary Hasandra, Antonis Hatzigeorgiadis, Ioannis D. Morres, Nikos Comoutos, Yannis Theodorakis

Abstract


Background: It is well established that regular participation in exercise and virtual reality (VR) environments are important tools for improving or maintaining human health and cognitive function. Objectives: This study examined the effects of acute exercise and VR environments on children’s memory function and exercise preference (i.e. cycling with or without the use of VR technology). Methods: Α 2×3 factorial design was adopted with two measures (pre, post) and three study groups. Forty-five healthy children aged 9 to 13 years (Mage = 10.91±1.24 years) voluntarily participated in the study. Participants were randomly assigned into three groups receiving different treatment: (1) an exercise+VR group that cycled for 15 min in a VR environment (forest path) combined with basic mathematical problem-solving tasks, (2) an exercise group that cycled for 15 min, and (3) a no-exercise group that sat in a specific place in a lab for 15 min (the control group). Before and after the acute exercise, all the groups completed the Sternberg Memory Task. Upon completion of the intervention, the two exercise groups completed measures of enjoyment, intention and attitudes towards cycling. The exercise+VR group also completed a scale capturing the VR’s usability. Results: The results show that the exercise group scored higher on Sternberg’s Memory Task (p <.05) after the acute exercise treatment (post) than before it (pre). Similarly, the exercise+VR participants scored higher on the post-intervention memory task than did the exercise and control groups (p <.05). Moreover, the exercise+VR group reported higher scores on enjoyment, intention and attitude towards cycling than the exercise group, but this difference was not statistically significant (p >.05). Finally, the exercise+VR participants recorded high scores on the usability of the VR system during the acute exercise programme. Conclusions: These findings are in line with those of previous studies, underlining the important roles of exercise and VR environments on youths’ cognitive function.

Keywords


Children, Exercise, Virtual Reality, Pleasure, Memory, Technology, Exergame

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ajzen, I. (2005). Attitudes, Personality and Behavior (2nd Edition). Milton-Keynes, England: Open University Press/ McGraw-Hill.

American College of Sports Medicine. (2010). ACSM’s guidelines for exercise testing and prescription (8th ed.). New York: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Anderson, P., Rothbaum, B. O., & Hodges, L. F. (2003). Virtual reality exposure in the treatment of social anxiety. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 10(3), 240-247. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1077-7229(03)80036-6

Arsalidou, M., Pawliw-Levac, M., Sadeghi, M., & Pascual-Leone, J. (2018). Brain areas associated with numbers and calculations in children: Meta-analyses of fMRI studies. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 30, 239-250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2017.08.002

Basso, J. C., & Suzuki, W. A. (2017). The effects of acute exercise on mood, cognition, neurophysiology, and neurochemical pathways: A review. Brain Plasticity, 2(2), 127-152. https://doi.org/10.3233/BPL-160040

Bebetsos, E., Papaioannou, A., & Theodorakis, Y. (2003). University students’ attitudes and behaviors to-wards smoking and exercise. European Journal of Physical Education, 8(1), 29-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/1740898030080104

Botella, C., García Palacios, A., Baños, R., Quero, S., & Breton-Lopez, J. (2008). Virtual reality in the treatment of pain. Journal of Cybertherapy and Rehabilitation, 1(1), 93-100.

Brooke, J. (1996). SUS-A Quick and Dirty Usability Scale. In P. W. Jordan, B. Thomas, B. A. Weerdmeester, & A. L. McClelland (Eds.), Usability Evaluation in Industry (pp. 189-194). London: Taylor and Francis.

Bryanton, C., Bossé, J., Brien, M., McLean, J., McCormick, A., & Sveistrup, H. (2006). Feasibility, motivation, and selective motor control: Virtual reality compared to conventional home exercise in children with cerebral palsy. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 9(2), 123-128. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2006.9.123

Calvert, H. G., Barcelona, J. M., Melville, D., & Turner, L. (2019). Effects of acute physical activity on NIH toolbox-measured cognitive functions among children in authentic education settings. Mental Health and Physical Activity, 17, 100293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhpa.2019.100293

Chang, Y. K., Labban, J. D., Gapin, J. I., & Etnier, J. L. (2012a). The effects of acute exercise on cognitive performance: A meta-analysis. Brain Research, 1453, 87-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2012.02.068

Chang, Y.-K., Liu, S., Yu, H.-H., & Lee, Y.-H. (2012b). Effect of acute exercise on executive function in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 27(2), 225-237. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acr094

Clus, D., Larsen, M. E., Lemey, C., & Berrouiguet, S. (2018). The use of virtual reality in patients with eating disorders: Systematic review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 20(4), e157. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.7898

Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155-159. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-2909.112.1.155

Cooke, S., Pennington, K., Jones, A., Bridle, C., Smith, M. F., & Curtis, F. (2020). Effects of exercise, cognitive, and dual-task interventions on cognition in type 2 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS ONE, 15(5), e0232958. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232958

Díaz, P., Ioannou, A., Bhagat, K. K., & Spector, J. M. (2019). Learning in a Digital World: Perspective on Interactive Technologies for Formal and Informal Education. Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8265-9

Doherty, A., & Forés Miravalles, A. (2019). Physical activity and cognition: Inseparable in the classroom. Frontiers in Education, 4, 105. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00105

Drollette, E. S., Scudder, M. R., Raine, L. B., Moore, R. D., Saliba, B. J., Pontifex, M. B., & Hillman, C. H. (2014). Acute exercise facilitates brain function and cognition in children who need it most: An ERP study of individual differences in inhibitory control capacity. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 7, 53-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2013.11.001

Ellemberg, D., & St-Louis-Deschênes, M. (2010). The effect of acute physical exercise on cognitive function during development. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 11(2), 122-126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2009.09.006

Eriksen, B. A., & Eriksen, C. W. (1974). Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task. Perception and Psychophysics, 16(1), 143-149. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203267

Etnier, J. L., & Chang, Y-K. (2009). The effect of physical activity on executive function: A brief commentary on definitions, measurement issues, and the current state of the literature. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 31(4), 469-483. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.31.4.469

Etnier, J. L., & Chang, Y-K. (2019). Exercise, cognitive function, and the brain: Advancing our understanding of complex relationships. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 8(4), 299-300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2019.03.008

Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39(2), 175-191. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03193146

Greve, K. W., Stickle, T. R., Love, J. M., Bianchini, K. J., & Stanford, M. S. (2005). Latent structure of the Wisconsin card sorting test: A confirmatory factor analytic study. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 20(3), 335-364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acn.2004.09.004

Guixeres, J., Saiz, J., Alcañiz, M., Cebolla, A., Escobar, P., Baños, R., Botella, C., Lison, J. F., Alvarez, J., Cantero, L., & Lurbe, E. (2013). Effects of virtual reality during exercise in children. Journal of Universal Computer Science, 19(9), 1334-1349. https://doi.org/10.3217/jucs-019-09-11999

Harris, K., & Reid, D. (2005). The influence of virtual reality play on children’s motivation. The Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72(1), 21-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/0008417405 07200107

Hassandra, M., Galanis, E., Hatzigeorgiadis, A., Goudas, M., Mouzakidis, C., Karathanasi, E. M., Petridou, N., Tsolaki, M., Zikas, P., Evangelou, G., Papagiannakis, G., Bellis, G., Kokkotis, C., Panagiotopoulos, S. R., Giakas, G., & Theodorakis, Y. (2021). Α Virtual Reality App for physical and cognitive training of older people with mild cognitive impairment: Mixed methods feasibility study. JMIR Serious Games, 9(1), e24170. https://doi.org/10.2196/24170

Jensen, O., & Tesche, C. D. (2002). Frontal theta activity in humans increases with memory load in a working memory task. European Journal of Neuroscience, 15(8), 1395-1399. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1460-9568.2002.01975.x

Jones, T., Moore, T., & Choo, J. (2016). The impact of virtual reality on chronic pain. PLoS ONE, 11(12), e0167523. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0167523

Loprinzi, P. D., & Edwards, M. K. (2018). Exercise and implicit memory: A brief systematic review. Psychological Reports, 121(6), 1072-1085. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294117745563

Loprinzi, P. D., Frith, E., Edwards, M. K., Sng, E., & Ashpole, N. (2018). The effects of exercise on memory function among young to middle-aged adults: Systematic review and recommendations for future research. American Journal of Health Promotion, 32(3), 691-704. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890117117737409

Lotan, M., Yalon-Chamovitz, S., & Weiss, P. L. (2009). Improving physical fitness of individuals with intellectual and developmental disability through a virtual reality intervention program. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 30(2), 229-239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2008. 03.005

McAuley, E., Duncan, T., & Tammen, V. V. (1989). Psychometric properties of the intrinsic motivation inventory in a competitive sport setting: A confirmatory factor analysis. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 60(1), 48-58. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.1989.10607413

McComas, J., MacKay, M., & Pivik, J. (2002). Effectiveness of virtual reality for teaching pedestrian safety. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 5(3), 185-190. https://doi.org/10.1089/109493102760147150

McFarland, D. J., Sarnacki, W. A., & Wolpaw, J. R. (2010). Electroencephalographic (EEG) control of three-dimensional movement. Journal of Neural Engineering, 7(3), 036007. https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-2560/7/3/036007

McMillan, K., Flood, K., & Glaeser, R. (2017). Virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and the marine conservation movement. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 27(S1), 162-168. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.2820

Mol, J. M. (2019). Goggles in the lab: Economic experiments in immersive virtual environments. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 79, 155-164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2019.02.007

Mrakic-Sposta, S., Di Santo, S. G., Franchini, F., Arlati, S., Zangiacomi, A., Greci, L., Moretti, S., Jesuthasan, N., Marzorati, M., Rizzo, G., Sacco, M., & Vezzoli, A. (2018) Effects of combined physical and cognitive virtual reality-based training on cognitive impairment and oxidative stress in MCI patients: A pilot study. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 10, 282. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2018.00282

Papacharisis, V., & Goudas, M. (2003). Perceptions about exercise and intrinsic motivation of students’ attending a health-related program. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 97(3), 689-696. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.2003.97.3.689

Papagiannakis, G., Lydatakis, N., Kateros, S., Georgiou, S., & Zikas, P. (2018). Transforming medical education training with VR using M.A.G.E.S. Proceedings of the SIGGRAPH Asia 2018 Posters (SA ’18), Tokyo, Japan. New York, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3283289.3283291

Plante, T. G., Aldridge, A., Bogden, R., & Hanelin, C. (2003). Might virtual reality promote the mood benefits of exercise? Computers in Human Behavior, 19(4), 405-509. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0747-5632(02)00074-2

Ploughman, M. (2008). Exercise is brain food: The effects of physical activity on cognitive function. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 11(3), 236-240. https://doi.org/10.1080/17518420801997007

Robertson, R. J., Goss, F. L., Boer, N. F. Peoples, J. A., Foreman, A. J., Dabayebeh, I. M., Millich, N. B., Balasekaran, G., Riechman, S. E., Gallacher, J. D., & Thompkins, T. (2000). Children’s OMNI Scale of Perceived Exertion: mixed gender and race validation. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 32(2), 452-458. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005768-200002000-00029

“Skip” Rizzo, A., Lange, B., Suma, E. A., & Bolas, M. (2011). Virtual reality and interactive digital game technology: New tools to address obesity and diabetes. Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, 5(2), 256-264. https://doi.org/10.1177/193229681100500209

Stavroulia, K.-E., & Lanitis, A. (2017). On the Potential of Using Virtual Reality for Teacher Education. In P. Zaphiris & A. Ioannou (Eds.), Learning and Collaboration Technologies. Novel Learning Ecosystems, 4th International Conference, LCT 2017, Held as part of HCI International 2017, Vancouver, BC, Canada, July 9-17, 2017, Proceedings, Part I (pp.173-186), Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58509-3_15

Sternberg, S. (1966). High-speed scanning in human memory. Science, 153(3736), 652-654. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.153.3736.652

Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18(6), 643-662. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054651

Theodorakis, Y. (1994). Planned behavior, attitude strength, role identity, and the prediction of exercise behavior. The Sport Psychologist, 8(2), 149-165. https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.8.2.1499

Theodorakis, Y., Natsis, P., Papaioannou, A., & Goudas, M. (2003). Greek students' attitudes toward physical activity and health-related behavior. Psychological Reports, 92(1), 275-283. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.2003.92.1.275

Touloudi, E., Hassandra, M., Galanis, E., Goudas, M., & Theodorakis, Y. (2022). Applicability of an immersive virtual reality exercise training system for office workers during working hours. Sports, 10, 104. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports10070104

Uttley, J. (2019). Power analysis, sample size, and assessment of statistical assumptions - improving the evidential value of lighting research. LEUKOS, 15(2-3), 143-162. https://doi.org/10.1080/15502724.2018.1533851

Vinkhuyzen, A. A., van der Sluis, S., Boomsma, D. I., de Geus, E. J., & Posthuma, D. (2010). Individual differences in processing speed and working memory speed as assessed with the Sternberg memory scanning task. Behavior Genetics, 40(3), 315-326. https://doi.org/10. 1007/s10519-009-9315-7

Wiederhold, B. K., Soomro, A., Riva, G., & Wiederhold, M. D. (2014). Future directions: Advances and implications of virtual environments designed for pain management. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 17(6), 414-422. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2014.0197

Wollesen, B., Janssen, T. I., Müller, H., & Voelcker-Rehage, C. (2022). Effects of cognitive-motor dual task training on cognitive and physical performance in healthy children and adolescents: A scoping review. Acta Psychologica, 224, 103498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103498




DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijkss.v.10n.3p.7

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2013-2024 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD.

International Journal of Kinesiology and Sports Science

You may require to add the 'aiac.org.au' domain to your e-mail 'safe list’ If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox'. Otherwise, you may check your 'Spam mail' or 'junk mail' folders.