Young adults’ drift towards sedentariness has raised the need to study new generation of video games tagged as Exergames. These interfaces are seen as a promising way to motivate people doing more exercise but the way they affect our body and behavior is still not clear. The aim of this investigation is to characterize a virtual sport from different aspects. To reach this aim, physiological responses will be described and compared in groups with different performance levels. Muscle activity and upper limb kinematics will be monitored to check biomechanical properties, potential benefits, risks, and suggestions for game design. Finally we will study if Exergaming impacts players to participate in more physical activity.
Researchers
Pooya Soltani
João Paulo Vilas-Boas
Publications
1- Soltani, P., Vilas-Boas J.P. Muscle activation during exergame playing. In: Novák, D., Tulu, B., & Brendryen, H. (eds.). (2016). Handbook of Research on Holistic Perspectives in Gamification for Clinical Practice (pp. 312-341). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-9522-1 l Link
2- Soltani, P., Figueiredo, P., Mehrabi, A., & Vilas-Boas, J. P. (2014). Exergame playing in novice and experienced children: A pilot study. Journal of physical activity and health, 11(Supp1) (2014 Global Summit on the Physical Activity of Children), S188. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2014-0173 l Link
3- Soltani, P., Figueiredo, P., Fernandes, R., Fonseca, P., Vilas-Boas, J.P. (2014). Muscle activation during swimming exergame. In: B. Mason (ed.), Book of proceedings of the XII International Symposium on Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming. pp 248-252. Canberra, Australia. l Link
4- Soltani, P., & Vilas-Boas, J. P. (2013). Exploring learning effects during virtual swimming using biomechanical analysis (a work in progress). In P. Escudeiro, & C.V. de Cravalho. (Eds.). Paper presented at Proceedings of the 7th European Conference on Games Based Learning (Portugal), Porto (pp. 793-796). Sonning Common, UK: Academic Conferences and Publishing International. l Link
Videos
Reflective markers are placed on body to monitor the quantity of movements.
Cardiopulmonary system is used to measure the amount of energy used during exergaming.
We use biomechanical methods to study variety of virtual sports.
EMG sensors are placed on the desired muscles to study muscle activation during exergaming.
Media
25.11.2014 – “Exergames: Bring Out the Athlete In You!” @ Delsys – URL: http://www.delsys.com/exergames-bring-athlete/