Interactive Game System Research Articles

The effectiveness of virtual reality interventions in improving balance in adults with impaired balance compared to standard or no treatment: A systematic review

The effectiveness of virtual reality interventions in improving balance in adults with impaired balance compared to standard or no treatment: A systematic review

The effectiveness of virtual reality interventions in improving balance in adults with impaired balance compared to standard or no treatment: A systematic review.

The effectiveness of virtual reality interventions in improving balance in adults with impaired balance compared to standard or no treatment: A systematic review.

Combining learning and assessment in assessment‐based gaming environments

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose and demonstrate an evidence‐based scenario design framework for assessment‐based computer games.Design/methodology/approachThe evidence‐based scenario design framework is presented and demonstrated by using BELLA, a new assessment‐based gaming environment aimed at supporting student learning of vocabulary and math. BELLA integrates assessment and learning into an interactive gaming system that includes written conversations, math activities, oral and written feedback in both English and Spanish, and a visible psychometric model that is used to adaptively select activities as well as feedback levels. This paper also reports on a usability study carried out in a public middle school in New York City.FindingsThe evidence‐based, scenario design framework proves to be instrumental in helping combine game and assessment requirements. BELLA demonstrates how advances in artificial intelligence in education, cognitive science, educational measurement, and video games can be harnessed and integrated into valid instructional tools for the classroom.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper provides initial evidence of the potential of these kinds of assessment‐based gaming tools to enhance teaching and learning. Future work involves exploring student learning effects in randomized controlled studies and comparing the internal assessment models to more traditional assessment instruments.Originality/valueBELLA is the first step toward achieving engaging, assessment‐based, gaming environments for a variety of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)‐related areas with explicit support for English language learners.

Task-Specific Rehabilitation of Finger-Hand Function Using Interactive Computer Gaming

Szturm T, Peters JF, Otto C, Kapadia N, Desai A. Task-specific rehabilitation of finger-hand function using interactive computer gaming. The present case study assessed the feasibility of using an interactive gaming system, coupled with the manipulation of common objects, as a form of repetitive, task-specific movement therapy. Three adults with moderate chronic motor impairments of the fingers and hand participated: one 36-year-old man with an incomplete cervical spinal cord injury, one 60-year-old man with a left cortical cerebro-vascular accident, and one 38-year-old woman with left hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Each subject received an intervention of 15 one-hour sessions, which consisted solely of interactive exercise gaming using a diverse range of objects. The objects provided graded and challenging training levels, which emulated the functional properties of objects used in daily life. This in turn produced positive effects on the recovery of active finger range of motion and hand function.

Metazoa Ludens: Mixed-Reality Interaction and Play for Small Pets and Humans

Although animals and pets are so important for families and society, in modern urban lifestyles, we can only spend little time with our animal friends. Interactive media should be aimed to enhance not only human-to-human communication but also human-to-animal communication. Thus, we promote a new type of interspecies media interaction which allows human users to interact and play with their small pet friends (in this case, hamsters) remotely via the Internet through a mixed-reality-based game system “Metazoa Ludens.” We used a two-pronged approach to scientifically examine the system. First, and most importantly, the body condition score study was conducted to evaluate the positive effects to the hamsters. Second, the method of Duncan was used to assess the strength of preference of the hamsters toward Metazoa Ludens. Lastly, the effectiveness of this remote interaction with respect to the human users as an interactive gaming system with their pets/friends (hamster) was examined based on Csikszentmihalyi's Flow theory. Results of both studies inform of positive remote interaction between human users and their pet friends using our research system. This research is not only just aimed at providing specific experimental results on the implemented research system but is also aimed as a wider lesson for human-to-animal interactive media. Therefore, as an addition, we present a detailed framework suited in general for human-to-animal interaction systems inferred from the lessons learned.