Using startle probe to compare affect and engagement between a serious game and an online intervention program

Abstract

The widespread popularity of computer games have led to their expanded use in more serious applications for training and education. In many cases serious games are being advanced as more compelling than traditional face-to-face or interactive online training. A typically reported motivation for developing serious games is to try and increase engagement of participants and thus ultimately the effectiveness of the training experience. In this paper we discuss the relation of affect to engagement. The training reported in this study relates to a psychological counseling program developed to assist patients with comorbidity in depression and alcohol use disorders. A pre-existing online intervention program, called had been found to provide effective treatment when participants completed the program. However, a significant number of participants failed to complete the program, with most exits occurring when Cognitive Based Training (CBT) was integrated into the online program. To try and increase the number of participants completing the program a serious game, called Shadow is being developed to cover similar material. This paper reports on a study that uses the startle reflex modulation measure to try and objectively quantify the affective engagement of players in the two treatment approaches, Shadow, the serious game, versus SHADE, the online intervention program. Also reported are the issues associated with using affective processing, as measured by the startle probe technique, as a means of evaluating engagement in serious games.