Immersive Virtual Reality vs Treadmill Exercise Project

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Control; Virtual Reality Physical Activity; Treadmill

• Registration Number: NCT07213388
• Lead Sponsor: Rowan University

Brief Summary

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.

Detailed Description

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. Pilot the VRPA project (part 1) with 4 participants and obtain feedback

2. 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

3. Participants will be screened to ensure they meet inclusion criteria

4. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions (VR, Treadmill + Music, Sitting + Music)

5. 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 you think you'll exert yourself 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

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2024-09-01
• Study First Submitted: 2025-02-19
• Status Verified: 2025-10
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-10-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-10-01
• Study First Posted: 2025-10-08
• Last Update Posted: 2025-10-08
• Primary Completion: 2026-03-31
• Study Completion: 2026-03-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 60

Inclusion Criteria

1. Be inactive (i.e., do not meet physical activity guidelines)
2. have no current neurological, psychiatric, sensory, or motor impairment, and normal or corrected-to-normal vision (only thin wire glasses or contacts can be used)
3. have no history of motion sickness
4. have the ability to exercise based on the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire for Everyone (PAR-Q+) (Warburton et al., 2019)
5. Have not fallen to the point of injury in the last 6 months.
6. Be willing to wear an activity tracker
7. 18-64 years,

Exclusion Criteria

1. Do not meet the inclusion criteria
2. Struggle to use operate a VR headset
3. Cannot read
4. Have concerns about balance/falling while using a VR headset,
5. Unable to provide informed consent

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: FACTORIAL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Pace of participant recruitment	10 month enrollment period	enrollment rate of 6 participants per month
Number of participants willing to continue using the assigned exercie modality	1 hour	Willingness to continue using the exercise modality to which they were assigned and self-report enjoyment from engaging in the assigned exercise.
Percentage of participants who complete the required tasks in each condition	1 hour	Are participants able to complete the required tasks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Changes in Heart Rate	1 hour	Differences in heart rate from pre- to post session
Self-reported measures of "flow" associated with the assigned conditions	1 hour	Flow will be assessed using the Flow Short Scale (Rheinberg et al, 2003) that is comprised of 13 questions answered on a 7-point scale (1 = Not at all, 7 = very much). Scores can range from 13-91, with lower scores indicating less of a "flow state" or feelings of immersion in the assigned activity.
Changes in affect	1 hour	Using the Activation-Deactivation Checklist (Thayer et al., 1986), participants will rate 20 different adjectives on a 4-point scale (1= definitely feel, 2= feel slightly, 3= cannot decide, 4= definitely do not feel) before they engage in the assigned activity and after they engage in the assigned activity. Lower numbers will indicate higher endorsements of a particular feeling, but the primary outcome will examine any changes in pre- to post-activity ratings of the different affective states.
Rate of percieved exertion	1 hour	We will use Borg's Rate of Perceved Exertion measure, which has people rate their perceived exertion on a scale of 6 (no exertion at all) to 20 (maximal exertion) (Borg, 1982). The scale is anchored to the participant's subjective perception, with descriptors such as "extremely hard." Rate of perceived exertion will be evaluated post-activity only and will be compared across groups.
Changes in Stroop Color and Word Test	1 hour	The Stroop Color and Word Test (Golden et al, 2002) will be conducted pre- and post-assigned activities. Raw scores (e.g., reaction times, errors) will be calculated and changes in those scores from pre- to post-activity will be determined.
Number of Calories Burned	1 hour	Total number of calories burned during the assigned condition
Number of Active Minutes	1 hour	Total number of active minutes during the assigned condition
Changes in Executive Functioning	1 hour	The Trail Making Test (TMT) will be used to calculate changes in executive function (Arbuthnott \& Frank, 2000; Kortte et al., 2002; Reitan, 1956). Participants will be required to draw lines connecting different scattered numbers (Part A) and scattered numbers and letters (Part B). If the test can not be completed in 5-minutes it will be stopped. The more errors a person makes, and the longer a person takes, indicate poorer outcomes for executive function and we will calculate changes in this measure from pre- to post-activity.
Changes in Working Memory Capacity	1 hour	The Backward Digits Span (BDT, Lamar et al., 2007) measures an individual's working memory capacity and is comprised of 21 trials where participants will need to recall 3, 4, and 5-digit spans. The more numbers a person can correctly recall the better their working memory. We will calculate changes in this measure pre- to post-activity.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Rowan University; 🇺🇸 Glassboro, New Jersey, United States