Gaze Assistance for Older Adults during Throwing Training in Virtual Reality and its Effects on Performance and Motivation

Initial motivation when starting exergaming is a key factor towards enabling long-term engagement and adherence, especially among older adults. To increase, in particular, the initial motivation of older adults, we introduce the concept of diminishing gaze assistance (GA), assess its feasibility for virtual reality (VR) exergames, and investigate the effects on motor learning, performance, and motivation in older adult users. First, we conducted a focus group followed by a pre-study on the development of VR exergames for older adults and VR gaze assistance. The results informed the design and implementation of our gaze-assisted throwing exergame, which was then evaluated in a follow-up main study. Participants of the main study were randomly assigned to the GA and Motor (control) group, and had to complete a VR throwing task, in which participants had to aim and throw at three targets at varying angles. The GA group received declining gaze assistance, in which the ball trajectory was initially guided by their gaze (rather than their physical (motor) throwing) before guidance was gradually reduced until their physical (motor) throwing ability was solely responsible for hitting the target. Motivation and user experience were assessed using the Questionnaire on Current Motivation before and during, and the short scale of intrinsic motivation questionnaire after the task. The results show that the GA was generally perceived positively. In particular, the initial confidence of the GA group was rated higher, and we observed evidence suggesting increased confidence throughout the trial.