CHSS Undergraduate Research & Creative Works Showcase

Thursday, May 4, 2023 – Seven Hills Conference Center

Child & Adolescent Development

Abstract

Virtual Reality for Children: An Exploratory Study
By Andrea Nava, Andrea Murillo, Aries Dong & Ashley Little

Faculty advisor/course instructor: Rachel Flynn
Entry #24

Virtual reality is an up and coming device for people of all ages to play games and engage in a completely new fashion from the comforts of ones own home. Still in its infancy stage, the use of its technology has already shown so many nuanced ways to engage and interact. Active video games offer numerous physical benefits for children and can also improve cognition. Very little research has examined commercially-available VR AVGs for neurotypical, physically healthy children. This study takes the first steps in utilizing descriptive and correlational research designs to explore which types of VR games children enjoy playing, and how children’s individual differences and innate cognitive abilities may directly impact how they play and engage in our world and the world of virtual reality. Data will be collected in a 1.5-2 hour session. Aside from consent/assent, there are three phases of the data collection. The first being baseline information of children’s individual differences. These factors include and are not limited to; Parental surveys, surveys on media influence, physical activity, measures of cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive tests. The second phase is VR game feedback and interest. Each child will have different natural interests that will directly affect their ability to learn and engage with each game. Phase 3 will consist of VR game play and debrief. This topic is timely for informing how VR fits into children’s digital landscape. Specifically, we selected a total of 20 Oculus VR games from the E for Everyone category of games, including puzzle solving, sports games, music games, drawing, meditation, etc. The current pilot research will fill a gap in the literature by using commercially available VR games to examine how children age 9 -13 years old respond physically to VR games.