A Self-Adaptive Serious Game to Improve Motor Learning Among Older Adults in Immersive Virtual Reality: Short-Term Longitudinal Pre-Post Study on Retention and Transfer.

Abstract

Background: Despite their potential, the use of serious games within immersive virtual reality (iVR) for enhancing motor skills in older adults remains relatively unexplored. In this study, we developed a self-adaptive serious game in iVR called REAsmash-iVR. This game involves swiftly locating and striking a digital mole presented with various distractors.

Objective: This short-term longitudinal pre-post study aims to evaluate REAsmash-iVR's efficacy in promoting motor learning in older adults. Specifically, we seek to determine the transfer and retention of motor learning achieved through REAsmash-iVR to other iVR tasks.

Methods: A total of 20 older adults participated in the study, engaging with REAsmash-iVR over 7 consecutive days. The evaluation included iVR tests such as KinematicsVR and a VR adaptation of the Box and Block Test (BBT-VR). KinematicsVR tasks included drawing straight lines and circles as fast and as accurately as possible, while BBT-VR required participants to move digital cubes as quickly as possible within 60 seconds. Assessments were conducted before and after the intervention, with a follow-up at 1 week post intervention. The primary outcome focused on evaluating the impact of REAsmash-iVR on speed-accuracy trade-off during KinematicsVR tasks. Secondary outcomes included analyzing movement smoothness, measured by spectral arc length, and BBT-VR scores.

Results: Results revealed significant improvements in speed-accuracy trade-off post intervention compared to that before the intervention, with notable retention of skills for straight lines (t₁₉=5.46; P<.001; Cohen d=1.13) and circle drawing (t₁₉=3.84; P=.001; Cohen d=0.787). Likewise, there was a significant enhancement in spectral arc length, particularly for circle drawing (χ²₂=11.2; P=.004; ε²=0.23), but not for straight-line drawing (χ²₂=2.1; P=.35; ε²=0.003). Additionally, participants demonstrated transfer with significant improvement (q=5.26; P<.001; Cohen r=0.678) and retention (q=6.82; P<.001; Cohen r=0.880) in BBT-VR skills.

Conclusions: These findings provide perspectives for the use of iVR to improve motor learning in older adults through delivering self-adaptive serious games targeting motor and cognitive functions.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04694833; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04694833.