“Exergaming refers to video games that require bodily movement during game play” (McDonough et al., 2018), it has been mooted as a means by which physical activity levels can be improved (Oh, 2010). Some exergames are designed to be more physically demanding than others, for example, the Kinect just dance, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Switch. It has increasingly been a viable option for therapy and building up physical activity level particularly in older patients and those who have had limited mobility. Best (2012) claims that as well as a means to enhance physical activity levels exergaming is also a means by which children’s cognitive function can be developed. This builds on much of the research that has been conducted on the use of exergames on dementia patients where an increase in cognitive function and dual tasking was noted. Best (2012) noted that because of the whole-body gaming experience that cognitive functioning was required throughout the experience because of the rules, speed and demands of the games. Participants of the game are required not only to move their body to control games but to partake in decision making, problem-solving, categorisation, reasoning and logic.
References:
Best, J. R. (2012). Exergaming immediately enhances children’s executive function. Developmental Psychology, 48 (5), pp.1501–1510. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026648
McDonough, D.J., Pope, Z.C., Zeng, N., Lee, J.E. and Gao, Z. (2018) Comparison of College Students’ Energy Expenditure, Physical Activity, and Enjoyment during Exergaming and Traditional Exercise. J. Clin. Med. 7, pp.433.
Oh, Y. and Yang, S. (2010) Defining exergames and exergaming. Proceedings of Meaningful Play, pp.1-17.