Adam Lobel

A randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of an immersive 3D video game for anxiety prevention among adolescents

Adolescent anxiety is debilitating, the most frequently diagnosed adolescent mental health problem, and leads to substantial long-term problems. A randomized controlled trial (n = 138) was conducted to test the effectiveness of a biofeedback video game (Dojo) for adolescents with elevated levels of anxiety. Adolescents (11–15 years old) were randomly assigned to play Dojo or a control game (Rayman 2: The Great Escape). Initial screening for anxiety was done on 1,347 adolescents in five high schools; only adolescents who scored above the “at-risk” cut-off on the Spence Children Anxiety Survey were eligible. Adolescents’ anxiety levels were assessed at pre-test, post-test, and at three month follow-up to examine the extent to which playing Dojo decreased adolescents’ anxiety. The present study revealed equal improvements in anxiety symptoms in both conditions at follow-up and no differences between Dojo and the closely matched control game condition. Latent growth curve models did reveal a steeper decrease of personalized anxiety symptoms (not of total anxiety symptoms) in the Dojo condition compared to the control condition. Moderation analyses did not show any differences in outcomes between boys and girls nor did age differentiate outcomes. The present results are of importance for prevention science, as this was the first full-scale randomized controlled trial testing indicated prevention effects of a video game aimed at reducing anxiety. Future research should carefully consider the choice of control condition and outcome measurements, address the potentially high impact of participants’ expectations, and take critical design issues into consideration, such as individual- versus group-based intervention and contamination issues.

DEEP: A Biofeedback Virtual Reality Game for Children At-risk for Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are among the most frequently diagnosed mental health problems in children, leading to potentially devastating outcomes on a personal level and high costs for society. Although evidence-based interventions are readily available, their outcomes are often disappointing and variable. In particular, existing interventions are not effective long-term nor tailored to differences in individual responsiveness. We therefore need a new approach to the prevention and treatment of anxiety in children and a commensurate scientific methodology to uncover individual profiles of change. We argue that applied games have a great deal of potential for both. The current paper presents results from a recent pilot study using a biofeedback virtual reality game (DEEP). DEEP integrates established therapeutic principles with an embodied and intuitive learning process towards improved anxiety regulation skills.

Associations between children's video game playing and psychosocial health: information from both parent and child reports

Video games are a highly heterogeneous form of entertainment. As recent reviews highlight, this heterogeneity makes likely that video games have both positive and negative consequences for child development. This study investigated the associations between gaming frequency and psychosocial health among children younger than 12 years of age, an understudied cohort in this field. Both parents and children reported childrens gaming frequency, with parents also reporting on childrens psychosocial health. Given that children may be too young to report the time they spend playing video games accurately, childrens reports were scaffolded by a developmentally appropriate measure. We further investigated the potential bias of having parents report both their childrens gaming frequency and their childrens psychosocial health (i.e., a single source bias). Parental reports of childrens gaming frequency were higher than their childrens reports. However, a direct test of the potential single source bias rendered null results. Notably, however, while parental reports showed negative associations between gaming and psychosocial health, childrens reports showed no associations. Specifically, based on parent reports, childrens gaming was associated with more conduct and peer problems, and less prosocial behavior. As childrens reports produced no associations between gaming and psychosocial health, parental reports in this study may belie an erroneous set of conclusions. We therefore caution against relying on just one reporter when assessing childrens gaming frequency.

Autonomous and Controlled Motivation in a Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing School-based and Computerized Depression Prevention Programs

The depression prevention video game SPARX was shown to be equally as effective as the classroom-based depression prevention program ‘Op Volle Kracht’ (OVK) in reducing depressive symptoms among adolescents girls. Because video games are known for their engaging qualities, this study examined possible motivational benefits of SPARX compared to OVK. No differences in autonomous and controlled motivation were found between conditions at any time point. However, OVK was negatively associated with autonomous motivation during the program, while SPARX and the OVK and SPARX combined were associated negatively with controlled motivation during the programs. Additionally, autonomous motivation and controlled motivation at the start of the interventions and controlled motivation half-way through the interventions was found to positively influence long-term depressive symptoms. Results indicate that depression prevention programs including video games can beneficially influence motivation. Further research is needed to delineate the effects of video game prevention programs on motivation.

Social embodiment in directional stepping behavior

AbstractEmbodiment theories emphasize the role played by sensory and motor processes in psychological states, such as social information processing. Motivated by this idea, we examined how whole-body postural behaviors couple to social affective cues, viz., pictures of smiling and angry faces. We adopted a Simon-like paradigm, whereby healthy female volunteers were asked to select and initiate a forward or backward step on a force plate in response to the gender of the poser (male/female), regardless of emotion. Detailed analysis of the spatiotemporal unfolding of the body center of pressure during the steps revealed that task-irrelevant emotion had no effect on the initiation times of the steps, i.e., there was no evidence of an affective Simon effect. An unexpected finding was that steps were initiated relatively slow in response to female angry faces. This Stroop-like effect suggests that postural behavior is influenced by whether certain stimulus features match or mismatch.

Gaining a Competitive Edge: Longitudinal Associations Between Children’s Competitive Video Game Playing, Conduct Problems, Peer Relations, and Prosocial Behavior.

Playful competition is an important hallmark of healthy child development. Playful competition facilitates moral learning, rewards perspective-taking skills, and challenges children to healthily regulate unpleasant emotions such as frustration, anger, and jealousy. Despite this, research on the effects of competitive video gaming has focused on antisocial outcomes, such as declines in prosocial behavior. Moreover, methodological shortcomings such as experimental studies using designs with poor generalizability, and a lack of longitudinal studies, leave open the influence of competitive gaming on social development among preadolescent children. This longitudinal study therefore investigated the relation between competitive gaming and changes in children’s social development across 3 measures: conduct problems, peer relations, and prosocial behavior. At 2 timepoints, 1 year apart, 184 Dutch children (8.31–12.68 years old) reported their gaming frequency and listed their favorite games to play, and their parents reported their children’s psychosocial health. Children’s nominations were coded as including or not including a competitive video game. Children who nominated a competitive game at the first time point were more likely to show a decrease in conduct problems and an improvement in peer relations. No interactions were observed between competitive gaming and gaming frequency. These results encourage future research to investigate the social benefits of playful competitive gaming among peers, and for future studies to take other variables such as violent content, cooperative play, and real world competitive play into account.