Immersive Virtual Reality vs Treadmill Exercise Project

The purpose of this research project is to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a virtual reality-based physical activity (VRPA) intervention for inactive adults compared to more traditional forms of physical activity. The project will explore the relationship between VRPA engagement and cognition, biological measures (calories burned, heart rate, and active minutes), rate of perceived exertion, flow, affect, and enjoyment in physical activity as well.

The feasibility and acceptability of a Virtual Reality Physical Activity (VRPA) intervention will be examined. VRPA will be compared with more traditional modes of physical activity (e.g., walking on a treadmill) with regard to physical biomarkers (i.e., heart rate, calories burned, active minutes), flow state (i.e., Flow Short Scale), cognition (e.g., Stroop Test, Trail Making Test, Digital version of the WRAML-2 Symbolic Working Memory Test-Part 1, and Digital Backward Digit Span), affect (e.g., Activation-Deactivation Adjective List and DASS-21), perceived exertion (e.g., Borg's Rate of Perceived Exertion and one question regarding how hard they think they will exert themselves), willingness (i.e., to pay, intent to engage in physical activity), and physical enjoyment (i.e., Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale). 1. Recruit and enroll 60 participants a. Participants will be recruited through the SONA system (i.e., student pool for collecting psychological research), word-of-mouth, email lists, flyers, and online classified ads 2. Participants will be screened to ensure they meet the inclusion criteria 3. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions (VR, Treadmill + Music, Sitting + Music) 4. Participants will complete baseline measures a. Demographic information will be collected (e.g., ethnicity, height, weight, experience with exergames, current physical activity, physical activity readiness) b. Participants will: i. Complete the following surveys 1\. Cognition 2. Affect 3. How hard do they think they will exert themselves 4. Willingness ii. Get the following measurements taken: 1\. Heart Rate (HR) 6. Participants will engage in a warm-up/acclimation period on either the VR exergame or treadmill condition 7. Participants will engage in exercise for 20-30 minutes in the VR/treadmill condition, or sit quietly listening to music (control condition) 1. HR will be measured during all 3 conditions 2. The treadmill condition will be configured to a level that allows participants to engage in comfortable conversation while experiencing some breathlessness (i.e., brisk/moderate pace) 8. Post-exercise/sitting, participants will a. Complete the following surveys: i. Feasibility ii. Acceptability iii. Cognition iv. Flow v. Affect vi. Borg's Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) vii. Willingness viii. Physical Enjoyment b. Get the following measurements taken: i. Heart Rate ii. Calories burned