%0 Journal Article %T Competitive active video games: physiological and psychological responses in children and adolescents %J Paediatrics and child health (1996) %D 2015 %A Lisón, Juan F. %A Cebolla, Ausias %A Guixeres, Jaime %A Alvarez-Pitti, Julio %A Escobar, Patricia %A Bruñó, Alejandro %A Lurbe, Empar %A Alcañiz, Mariano %A Baños, Rosa %V 20 %N 7 %P 373-376 %X BACKGROUND: Recent strategies to reduce sedentary behaviour in children include replacing sedentary screen time for active video games. Active video game studies have focused principally on the metabolic consumption of a single player, with physiological and psychological responses of opponent-based multiplayer games to be further evaluated. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether adding a competitive component to playing active video games impacts physiological and psychological responses in players. METHODS: Sixty-two healthy Caucasian children and adolescents, nine to 14 years years of age, completed three conditions (8 min each) in random order: treadmill walking, and single and opponent-based Kinect active video games. Affect, arousal, rate of perceived exertion, heart rate and percentage of heart rate reserve were measured for each participant and condition. RESULTS: Kinect conditions revealed significantly higher heart rate, percentage of heart rate reserve, rate of perceived exertion and arousal when compared with treadmill walking (P<0.001). Opponent-based condition revealed lower values for the rate of perceived exertion (P=0.02) and higher affect (P=0.022) when compared with single play. CONCLUSION: Competitive active video games improved children's psychological responses (affect and rate of perceived exertion) compared with single play, providing a solution that may contribute toward improved adherence to physical activity. KEYWORDS: Children; Physical activity; Sedentarism; Sport psychology; Video games.

Language: en

%G en %I Pulsus Group %@ 1205-7088 %U http://dx.doi.org/