JMIR Serious Games

Combining physical, motor, and cognitive exercises is expected to be effective to attenuate age-related declines of brain and cognition in older adults. This can be achieved either by conventional interventions or by exergames. This paper aimed to determine whether conventional combined training and exergame interventions are two comparable ways for delivering combined training. In total, 24 studies on conventional training and 23 studies on exergames were selected and compared. A common framework was used to analyze both types of combined training interventions. Our analysis showed that conventional combined training interventions were more effective than separated physical and motor training to improve brain and cognition, while their superiority over cognitive training alone remains to be confirmed. Exergames scarcely led to cognitive benefits superior to those observed after physical, motor, or cognitive training alone. Thus, although both conventional training interventions and exergames allowed delivering combined training programs, they are not two facets of the same coin. Further studies that are more theoretically grounded are necessary to determine whether interventions delivered via exergames may lead to superior benefits compared to conventional separated and combined training interventions.

Points represent one of the most widely used game mechanics in gamification. They have been used as a means to provide feedback to users. They visually show user performance and are used along with other game mechanics to produce synergy effects. However, using points without analyzing the application environment and targets adversely affects users.

Virtual reality (VR) exergaming is a new intervention strategy to help humans engage in physical activity to enhance mood. VR exergaming may improve both mood and executive function by acting on the prefrontal cortex, expanding the potential benefits. However, the impact of VR exergaming on executive function has not been fully investigated, and associated intervention strategies have not yet been established.

A growing number of stroke survivors are left with little to no rehabilitation services upon discharge from stroke rehabilitation, although arm deficits may persist or develop from disuse once rehabilitation services have ceased. Virtual reality (VR)–based rehabilitation, combined with new technologies such as telerehabilitation, including serious games using VR environments that encourage users to practice functional movements from home with minimal supervision, may have an important role to play in optimizing and maintaining upper extremity (UE) function.

Recently, technology that provides virtual reality (VR) content based on streaming services has been rapidly developed. However, there have been few studies to reduce VR sickness that occurs while the user watches VR content while wearing a head-mounted display (HMD) in real time.

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has led to a sudden change in education, closing schools and shifting to online teaching, which has become an enormous challenge for teachers and students. Implementing adequate online pedagogical approaches and integrating different digital tools in the teaching process have become a priority in educational systems. Finding a way to keep students' interest and persistence in learning is an important issue that online education is facing. One possible way to establish engaging and interactive learning environments, using the energy and enthusiasm of students for educational purposes, is the use of game-based learning activities and gamification of different parts of the educational process.

Technological advances have transformed vascular intervention in recent decades. In particular, improvements in imaging and data processing have allowed for the development of increasingly complex endovascular and hybrid interventions. Augmented reality (AR) is a subject of growing interest in surgery, with the potential to improve clinicians’ understanding of 3D anatomy and aid in the processing of real-time information. This study hopes to elucidate the potential impact of AR technology in the rapidly evolving fields of vascular and endovascular surgery.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is the fear of social situations where a person anticipates being evaluated negatively. Changes in autonomic response patterns are related to the expression of anxiety symptoms. Virtual reality (VR) sickness can inhibit VR experiences.

Ecologically valid evaluations of patient states or well-being by means of new technologies is a key issue in contemporary research in health and well-being of the aging population. The in-game metrics generated from the interaction of users with serious games (SG) can potentially be used to predict or characterize a user’s state of health and well-being. There is currently an increasing body of research that investigates the use of measures of interaction with games as digital biomarkers for health and well-being.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common nontraumatic, neurological, disabling disease that often presents with upper limb dysfunction. Exercise training has resulted in improvement for patients; however, there can be a lack of compliance due to access because of location and lack of MS experts. Virtual reality (VR) is a promising technology that can offer exercise therapy/rehabilitation at a distance. This type of remote training can be motivational and effective for patients with MS and can improve range of motion and muscle strength for those with upper limb dysfunction.

With the advancements in the dental health care industry, the demand for dental technicians has increased. Dental technicians should be thoroughly assessed and trained in practical skills and pass professional certification examinations to ensure that they are competent to work closely with dentists. Unfortunately, such training courses and tests are in short supply worldwide. The use of virtual simulation technology can help solve these problems.

Human cognitive processing speed is known to decline with age. Human cognitive processing speed refers to the time that an individual takes from receiving a stimulus to reacting to it. Serious games, which are video games used for training and educational purposes, have the potential to improve processing speed. Numerous systematic reviews have summarized the evidence regarding the effectiveness of serious games in improving processing speed, but they are undermined by some limitations.