NCT07050654

Motivation While Doing Physical Exercise in a Social Dual-task Virtual Environment

Studio Della Motivazione All'Esercizio Fisico in modalità Social Dual-task in Ambiente di realtà Virtuale Non Immersiva" Nell'Ambito Del Progetto ActivE3 - Everyone, Everywhere, Everyday "Rif. 2021-0612 - CUP C13C21000200005

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 86 (actual)
• Sponsor: Istituto di Sistemi e Tecnologie Industriali Intelligenti per il Manifatturiero Avanzato · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 12 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this interventional study is to assess the difference in participants' motivation while performing a virtual reality-based dual-task exercise in a single-player vs. multi-player modality. The populations involved are the following: healthy young adults (14-18 ys.); children and adolescents (12-17 ys.) with motor disorders; older adults with neurological or respiratory conditions. The main questions it aims to answer are: Is a "social" virtual environment better in promoting motivation to perform physical exercise? Is a "social" virtual environment better in promoting involvement, perceived social inclusion, and exercise performance? Forty participants will test the single-player and the multi-player scenarios in a single-session and will rate their experiences with subjective questionnaires. A subgroup of participants (12) will use the multi-player system for 3 weeks/3 times a week.

Conditions

• Healthy Volunteer
• Stroke
• COPD
• Cerebral Palsy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Dual-task cycling	Pairs of participants are formed, who will be the SocialBike players; these pairs consist of users from the same center. The two players are in the same room where two replicas of the SocialBike system are installed. The participants can each view, on their own screen, the virtual scenario, either a park or a city environment. Movement within these VR environments is synchronized with the patient's actual pedaling speed, measured in revolutions per minute (RPM) from the cycle ergometer. Movement occurs along a predefined path. The participant's heart rate will always be monitored. The therapist chooses the optimal ergometer workload, the type of exercise, and social/single-player mode. Each session (either single- or multi-player mode) lasts 10 minutes. The available exercise are: "Find the intruder" (go/no-go task); "Prepare your Meal" (spatial attention); "Watch the road" (working memory).

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-09-01
• Primary completion: 2025-12-18
• Completion: 2025-12-18
• First posted: 2025-07-03
• Last updated: 2026-02-09

Locations

4 sites across 1 country: Italy