Sphere Saber: A Virtual Reality Exergame to Study Age-Related Differences in Selective Visual Attention and Information Processing

Virtual reality (VR) applications enable users to perform physical exercises from home. Due to the absence of a real trainer, visual cues are typically used to provide important information about game mechanics or the current tasks. In this paper, we investigate age-related differences regarding visual perception and processing of these game cues during a VR exergame. Therefore, we conducted a comparative user study with nine older and nine younger adults, in which participants had to hit balls of different colors, which approached them. Our results show that younger participants performed better in the game than older participants, especially if a dual-task with additional information was presented. This implies an effect of age on both, task performance, as well as information processing and memory. Eye-tracking data suggests that these differences are not caused by not seeing the visual information signs that were presented, but rather differences in the processing. Furthermore, older adults reported a higher feeling of presence and lower simulator sickness scores. These insights provide important implications for the development of VR exergames for different age groups, especially if additional game information needs to be displayed.