Short-Term Psychological Effects of Interactive Video Game Technology Exercise on Mood and Attention

Recent interest in interactive video game technology (IVGT) has spurred the notion that exercise from this technology may have meaningful physiological and psychological benefits for children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the short-term psychological effects of interactive video game exercise in young adults and whether IVGT participation was capable of improving mood as has been shown for traditional forms of exercise. In addition, we were interested in comparing both actual physical exercise output and perceived exertion of that output across the exercise conditions. One-hundred and sixty-eight college students were assigned to one of three 30-minute conditions: (1) interactive video game cycle ergometer exercise, (2) regular cycle ergometer exercise, or (3) a video game-only control condition. Positive and negative mood (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) was assessed before and twice-after experimental conditions, and measures of actual and perceived physical exertion were collected at five-minute intervals across exercise conditions. Participants in the video-game control had higher post-activity negative affect immediately and 10minutes post activity than either exercise group. In addition, exercise condition participants had higher positive mood at 10-minutes post activity compared to the video game control participants. Results do not support IVGT mood benefits over other forms of exercise, but do support immediate affective benefits of exercise compared to sedentary activity. It is concluded that while there is potential for interactive video-game based applications to elicit affective benefits, there is a need to examine circumstances under which these benefits are most likely to occur.