Differences in Physiological Reactions Due to a Competitive Rehabilitation Game Modality

Abstract

Interpersonal rehabilitation games, compared to single-player games, enhance motivation and intensity level. Usually, it is complicated to restrict the use of the system to pairs of impaired patients who have a similar skill level. Thus, such games must be dynamically adapted. Difficulty-adaptation algorithms are usually based only on performance parameters. In this way, the patient’s condition cannot be considered when adapting the game. Introducing physiological reactions could help to improve decision-making. However, it is difficult to control how social interaction influences physiological reactions, making it difficult to interpret physiological responses. This article aimed to explore the changes in physiological responses due to the social interaction of a competitive game modality. This pilot study involved ten unimpaired participants (five pairs). We defined different therapy sessions: (i) a session without a competitor; (ii) two sessions with a virtual competitor with different difficulty levels; (iii) a competitive game. Results showed a difference in the physiological response in the competitive mode concerning single-player mode only due to the interpersonal game modality. In addition, feedback from participants suggested that it was necessary to keep a certain difficulty level to make the activity more challenging, and therefore be more engaging and rewarding.

Patients’ physiological reactions to competitive rehabilitation therapies assisted by robotic devices

“…The game used in this study is the same as the one analyzed in [ 37 ], whose purpose is to reach a target (an apple) and deposit it in the indicated position (highlighted basket). It is, therefore a point-to-point modality where the player’s cursor (patient) was represented by a hand whose center corresponds to the actual position of the robot end-effector.…”

“…As in [ 37 ], two game modalities were carried out: On the one hand, a single-player game mode, where a bird represented a virtual competitor. First, the player had to wait in the basket until an apple appeared (Fig.…”

“…There are several versions of this questionnaire [ 52 ]. The one used in this study is a reduced version that has already been evaluated in similar studies [ 22 – 24 , 37 ].…”

“…1 , where corresponds with the baseline value). This normalization method has already been used in other similar studies [ 37 , 54 , 55 ]. Statistical analysis was performed using normalized values.…”

“…We have previously conducted a study with unimpaired participants to evaluate how the interpersonal interaction inherent in a competitive game mode affects the physiological response of participants [ 37 ]. Ten unimpaired participants were involved in this study (5 pairs).…”