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Citation: Kolovelonis, A.;
Papastergiou, M.; Samara, E.;
Goudas, M. Acute Effects of
Exergaming on Students’ Executive
Functions and Situational Interest in
Elementary Physical Education. Int. J.
Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20,
1902. https://doi.org/10.3390/
ijerph20031902
Academic Editors: Marianna Alesi
and Ambra Gentile
Received: 19 December 2022
Revised: 13 January 2023
Accepted: 17 January 2023
Published: 20 January 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
International Journal of
Environmental Research
and Public Health
Article
Acute Effects of Exergaming on Students’ Executive Functions
and Situational Interest in Elementary Physical Education
Athanasios Kolovelonis * , Marina Papastergiou, Evdoxia Samara and Marios Goudas
Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Thessaly, 42100 Trikala, Greece
*Correspondence: akolov@pe.uth.gr; Tel.: +30-24310-47063
Abstract:
Two studies were conducted to examine the acute effects of exergaming on students’
executive functions and to explore their situational interest regarding these games in elementary
physical education. The first study involved a two-group, repeated measures, cross-over quasi-
experimental design. Participants were 74 (36 boys) fourth- and fifth-grade students who were
assigned to the experimental (38 students) and the waiting list control (36 students) group. The
single physical education session with exergames was first implemented with the initial experimental
group and after the post-test, the waiting list control group received the intervention. In the second
study, a pre-test post-test, the within-subjects design was involved with the experimental group
students (48 fourth- and fifth-grade students, 27 boys) who participated in a booster single physical
education session with exergames two months after their involvement in a four-week intervention
with cognitively challenging physical activity games. Both studies involved pre- and post-intervention
measures for executive functions using the design fluency test and a post-test measure for situational
interest. During the acute session, students had to follow the movements of an on-screen dancing
character in time to a chosen song of the Just Dance 2015 exergame. The results of the first study
showed that experimental group students improved significantly from pre- to post-test their scores in
design fluency and in cognitive flexibility and in the total score of the design fluency test and their
improvements were higher compared to the waiting list control group. The waiting list control group
students, after receiving the acute session with exergames, significantly improved their scores in
design fluency, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility and in the total score of the design fluency test
compared to their pre-intervention scores. Moreover, the second study showed that students’ total
score in the design fluency test improved significantly from pre- to post-intervention. In both studies,
students reported generally high scores in all subscales of the situational interest questionnaire. These
results suggested that an acute exergame-based physical education session attracted students’ interest
and positively triggered their executive functions.
Keywords: exergames; inhibition; cognitive flexibility; design fluency
1. Introduction
Exergames, a term derived from the combination of “exercise” and “games”, are elec-
tronic games that demand gross body movements [
1
]. As opposed to sedentary electronic
games, which mainly require finger and hand movements, exergames demand substantial
physical activity (e.g., lower-limb or whole-body movements) for interacting with the game
environment and rely on various exertion interfaces (e.g., dance pads, bicycle ergometers)
or motion tracking technologies [
2
,
3
]. The first popular, cost-effective exergame has been
Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) [
1
,
4
], which was released in 1998 by Konami [
5
]. In DDR,
the player has to dance by stepping on the multi-directional sensor arrows of a dance
pad placed on the floor in synchronization with music, following on-screen arrows that
correspond to the arrows of the dance pad [1–3].
Various companies have produced motion sensing devices for exergaming [
4
], such
as cameras or controllers that detect the player’s movement, which is transferred to the
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20031902 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902 2 of 15
game environment and displayed on-screen as a movement of a character or of an avatar
representing the player [
1
,
6
]. The release of the Wii gaming console, the Wii Remote
controller, and the Wii Balance Boar, a device that tracked the player’s center of balance,
together with the Wii Sports and Wii Fit exergames, in 2006–2007 by Nintendo, revolu-
tionized exergaming enabling players to perform sports (e.g., tennis) movements, yoga,
strength, aerobics and balance training using the controller and/or the balance board [
7
,
8
].
In 2010, Sony released the PlayStation Move controller for its PlayStation console [
9
], and
Microsoft launched Kinect, a device with motion-sensing cameras that enabled players to
freely interact with games through body movements without any controller [
4
], for its Xbox
console, together with the Kinect Sports exergames [
10
]. These advances further spurred
exergame development.
Various studies have shown that playing exergames, such as DDR, Nintendo Wii
Sports, or Xbox Kinect dance and sports games, elicits energy expenditure comparable to
moderate-intensity physical activity in primary school children [
11
–
13
]. Playing exergames,
such as Nintendo Wii Fit, Xbox Kinect Sports, or other dance, fitness, and yoga games,
regularly at school, was also found to increase school day energy expenditure [
14
,
15
].
Exergames were also found to improve the fundamental motor skills [
16
] and fitness [
17
] of
primary school children. A recent overview of 17 systematic reviews and meta-analyses [
18
]
showed that exergames, such as dance, aerobics, and sports games, positively impacted
both the physical functioning and the mental health of children.
Regarding motivational variables, many studies converge that exergaming elicits high
levels of enjoyment in children [
13
,
14
,
17
,
19
–
21
]. Furthermore, exergaming has been found
to improve children’s attitudes toward physical activity, in terms of self-efficacy, intention
to exercise, and perceived social support to exercise [
15
,
17
]. Apart from physical benefits,
Staiano and Calvert [
1
] have argued that exergames may also entail psychosocial benefits
(e.g., increased social interaction through multiplayer modes) and cognitive benefits (e.g.,
improved executive functions).
Executive functions are a family of higher-order cognitive processes that facilitate
goal-directed behavior and cognitive flexibility. These processes are necessary for students
to deal with novel, challenging, and complex conditions in learning environments. The
three core executive functions identified in the literature are inhibition, working memory,
and cognitive flexibility [22]. Inhibition helps students to control their behavior, thoughts,
or emotions in order to act properly in changing learning environments. Working memory
works as a short-term storage of information that students can use or handle during their
involvement in learning conditions. Cognitive flexibility helps students to be flexible when
they face new demands, rules, or priorities in learning environments and have to shift their
attention between task demands or use a new approach for solving a problem.
The importance of executive functions has been highlighted not only due to their obvi-
ous implications for students’ development but also due to their practical implications for
promoting learning and performance. Indeed, executive functions are positively associated
with health, quality of life, and success in school and life [
23
]. Furthermore, they are impor-
tant for school readiness [
24
], academic achievement [
25
], and motor ability [
26
]. Executive
functions may also facilitate self-regulation and metacognitive control [
27
], which in turn
lead to positive outcomes such as improved motor and sports performance, satisfaction,
and enjoyment [28,29].
Physical activity may have positive effects on students’ executive functions. Indeed,
recent reviews and meta-analyses provided evidence of the beneficial effects of long-term
physical activity interventions on students’ executive functions [
30
,
31
]. For example, a
cognitively enriched sports program had positive effects on students’ working memory and
cognitive flexibility [
32
] while a six-month football intervention improved students’ execu-
tive function compared to a passive control group [
33
]. However, other research evidence
has suggested that executive functions were not affected by physical
activity [34,35]
. Fur-
thermore, acute physical activity may have positive effects on students’ executive functions,
although mixed results have also been reported [36].
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902 3 of 15
Sports and physical activities vary in their characteristics and in the degree of involving
students in cognitively challenging conditions [
37
]. Thus, the quality and the quantity of
physical activity seem to play a role in the inconsistent finding regarding the effects of
physical activity on executive functions [
38
]. Interestingly, the largest review regarding
executive functions has suggested that not all types of physical activity can effectively affect
executive functions [
39
]. This means that appropriate content should be used for triggering
students’ executive functions. The results of the abovementioned reviews [
30
,
31
] showed
that the larger effects on students’ executive functions resulted from physical activities
enriched with cognitive challenges. For example, involving students in unpredictable
and complex conditions requiring alternating between action plans or overriding prior
actions and acting in a totally different way [
40
] and in novel, challenging, and not highly
repetitive or automatized tasks [
41
] is considered appropriate for developing students’
executive functions. In this line, recent research in physical education examined the effects
of cognitively challenging physical activity games on students’ executive functions. In
particular, Kolovelonis and Goudas [
42
] found that three different types of these games
based on a different principle of mental engagement (contextual interference, mental
control, or discovery) were equally effective in triggering students’ executive functions.
Moreover, students who played these games improved their executive functions more than
students who were taught soccer or track and field skills [
43
] or students who practiced
activities for enhancing their health-related fitness components [
44
]. Expanding these
acute experiments, Kolovelonis et al. [
45
] found that a four-week intervention in physical
education involving cognitively challenging physical activity games had also positive
effects on students’ executive functions.
The abovementioned evidence suggests that appropriately designed activities in
physical education may effectively trigger students’ executive functions. Exergames may
also fall into this category. However, research evidence regarding the effects of exergames
on students’ executive functions is generally limited. Indeed, although numerous studies
have addressed the impact of exergames on the executive functions of adults, and especially
older ones, generally showing positive effects [
46
–
48
], research in school-age children is still
comparatively limited and, more specifically, research in school settings and real classroom
situations is even scarcer.
Indeed, very few studies have been conducted in children’s populations showing a
positive impact of acute or long-term exergaming on children’s executive functions. In a
study by Best [
49
], 33 children, aged 6 to 10 years, participated in four conditions of equal
duration (20 min): physically and cognitively engaging exergaming, physically but not
cognitively engaging exergaming, cognitively but not physically engaging sedentary video
gaming and not physically nor cognitively engaging video activity (watching video). Ex-
ergaming (either cognitively demanding or not) was found to improve children’s executive
functions, which led to the conclusion that it is the physical challenge of exergames that
may enhance executive functioning. In another study [
50
], 147 children, aged 7 to 12 years,
were assigned to four conditions of equal duration (20 min): physically and cognitively
engaging activity (playing a dance-based exergame that resembled DDR), physically but
not cognitively engaging activity (aerobic exercise), cognitively but not physically engaging
activity (sedentary playing the dance-based exergame through keyboard/mouse) and not
physically nor cognitively engaging activity (sitting and chatting). The children that had
played the dance-based game (either actually dancing or sedentarily) improved their exec-
utive functions (accuracy on the switch-task Flanker Test and reaction time on the standard
Flanker Test) more than those of the other two conditions, which led to the conclusion
that it is the cognitive challenge of exergames that may benefit executive functioning. The
two aforementioned studies were conducted in researchers’ settings and in an after-school
program, as it is mentioned in or can be deduced from the corresponding papers. In a
study conducted on 94 children and adolescents, aged 10 to 16 years, who were attend-
ing a summer camp [
51
], the participants that had played Nintendo Wii Fit aerobics and
balance exergames during five 30 min sessions, distributed over five weeks, enjoyed the
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902 4 of 15
experience, and improved their executive functions from pretest to posttest, whereas those
who had played a less active exergame and those who had participated in regular camp
sports activities had no improvement. Finally, in a study that was conducted in a school
setting, the sample of which, however, were not children but 65 adolescent boys, aged
13–16 years [
52
], participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions of equal
duration (15 min): playing a physically and cognitively challenging exergame (Shape Up
by Ubisoft), playing a purely physically challenging running exergame, and passively
watching a video regarding running. The first group (Shape Up) was found to perform
significantly better in cognitive flexibility compared to the other two groups.
Moreover, successful physical education programs should involve tasks, activities,
and games that attract students’ interest and increase their motivation to participate in
the lesson. Situational interest may reflect students’ recognition of the appealing features
of tasks and activities and thus may be considered as an important motivational variable
in physical education [
53
]. Situational interest is context-specific and environmentally
activated and has been conceptualized as a multidimensional construct. In particular,
encompass five dimensions: novelty, instant enjoyment, exploration intention, attention
demand, and challenge [
53
]. Novelty reflects what is known and unknown. Instant
enjoyment is associated with positive feelings of satisfaction after participating in an
activity. Exploration intention reflects the aspects of an activity that drive learners to
explore or discover. Attention demand refers to the mental effort required by an activity
to be involved. Challenge reflects the level of difficulty of an activity relative to one’s
ability [
54
]. An overall total interest element has also been identified referring to students’
overall assessment of situational interest [
53
]. Thus, situational interest is increased when
students participate in tasks they perceive as new, challenging, demanding, or allowing
them to explore possibilities and offer enjoyment.
Research evidence has suggested that exergames may positively affect students’ sit-
uational interest [
19
]. In particular, in a laboratory study, Roure et al. [
55
] found that a
bike exergame had positive effects on undergraduate students’ health-related physical
activity outcomes and situational interest. Sun [
56
] found that elementary students who
participated in exergaming reported higher levels of situational interest than students who
involved in a cardiovascular fitness unit. However, students’ situational interest declined
significantly in both groups and at the same rate at the end of the 4-week intervention. A
similar decline in students’ situational interest was also found in a follow-up study [
57
].
Moreover, Sun and Gao [
58
] found that elementary students who were stepping during
playing an educational video game reported higher levels of situational interest than their
counterparts in the control group who simply played the video game. These findings
provide preliminary evidence suggesting that exergames may positively affect students’
situational interests. However, further research is needed, especially in real life physical
education conditions to explore the motivational power of exergaming.
The Present Study
As deduced from the above review of the research literature and to the best of the
authors’ knowledge, no study thus far has investigated the feasibility and the effectiveness
of using exergaming as a means for executive function development in children belonging
to the general population, in realistic classroom situations, that are inherently social and
where the available technological resources may be more constrained than in laboratory
settings. The studies presented in this paper attempt to fill this gap in the research literature.
The interventions were conducted within the framework of the physical education course
of a Greek primary school and focused on the acute effects of exergaming.
Quality physical education should focus on students’ holistic development including
cognitive, emotional, social, and organic aspects, promoting healthy lifestyles including
lifelong participation in sports and physical activity, and enhancing their well-being and
quality of life. Moreover, providing students with positive, challenging, and developmen-
tally appropriate learning experiences in physical education may help them to acquire the
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902 5 of 15
necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values for leading a physically active life, now
and in the future [59].
In this line, selecting physical education content that focuses on multiple aspects of
students’ development is warranted. Indeed, recent views regarding the role of physical
activity programs have highlighted the dual role that these programs should serve. That is,
to increase not only students’ physical activity but also to promote their cognitive devel-
opment [
60
]. This can be completed with the implementation of appropriately designed
cognitively enriched physical activity programs that promote students’ physical activity
and trigger their executive functions. Considering, however, that not all types of physical
activity programs can serve this role [
39
], further research is needed in this field. Exergames
may be considered appropriate means of increasing students’ physical activity and trig-
gering their executive functions during physical education, especially on certain occasions
when adaptations to regular programs are needed such as, for example, on rainy days.
However, as already mentioned, exergaming seems to increase students’ physical activity,
but little is known regarding its effects on students’ executive functions. Furthermore,
students’ situational interest regarding exergames should be further explored.
In this line, two studies were conducted including one acute experiment each to
examine the effects of exergaming on students’ executive functions and to explore students’
situational interest regarding these games. The research questions that guided these studies
were:
(a)
Can an exergames activity within physical education increase students’ executive
functions (Study 1)?
(b) Can an exergames activity within physical education have a booster effect on the exec-
utive functions of students who had already participated in a respective intervention
increasing their executive functions (Study 2)?
(c) What are students’ levels of situational interest after participating in the single physical
education session with exergames (Study 1 and 2)?
It was hypothesized that participation in the single physical education session with
exergames would increase students’ executive functions from pre- to post-test. Moreover,
it was expected that students would report high scores in all subscales of the situational
interest questionnaire after the intervention. No hypothesis regarding the second research
question was set due to a lack of previous evidence.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Design
In the first study, a two-group, repeated measures, cross-over quasi-experimental
design was used. The single physical education session with exergames was first imple-
mented with the initial experimental group and after the post-test, the waiting list control
group received the intervention. The design involved pre- and post-intervention measures
for executive functions and a post-test measure for situational interest. In the second
study, a pre-test post-test, and within-subjects design were involved. Experimental group
students participated in a single physical education session with exergames two months
after the completion of a four-week intervention with cognitively challenging physical
activity games [
45
]. The design involved pre- and post-intervention measures for executive
functions and a post-test measure for situational interest.
2.2. Participants and Settings
A total number of 122 (Mage = 9.98 years old, SD = 0.59, 63 boys) fourth- (61 students,
Mage = 9.46 years old, SD = 0.24, 31 boys) and fifth-grade (61 students,
Mage = 10.12 years
old, SD = 0.56, 32 boys) students participated in the experiments of the two studies. In
particular, in the first study, participants were 35 (15 boys) fourth- and 39 (21 boys) fifth-
grade students. These students had no previous experience with exergames and attended
two fourth- and two fifth-grade classes from one elementary school and they were assigned
to the experimental (17 fourth- and 21 fifth-grade students) and the control (18 fourth-
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902 6 of 15
and 18 fifth-grade students) group. In the second study, participants were 26 (
16 boys
)
fourth- and 22 (11 boys) fifth-grade students who had been previously enrolled in a larger
intervention program [
45
]. These students had some previous experience with exergames
and attended one fourth- and one fifth-grade class from one elementary school.
Physical education in Greece is delivered by specialized physical education teachers
in coeducational classes. It is mandatory and includes three 45 min sessions per week for
fourth-grade students and two 45 min sessions per week for fifth-grade students. The
central aim of physical education is to promote students’ lifelong physical activity and to
improve the quality of their lives.
2.3. Measures
2.3.1. The Design Fluency Test
For measuring students’ executive functions, the design fluency (DF) test was used [
61
].
This test asks students to draw as many different designs as possible by connecting dots
with a pencil using four consecutive straight lines. Each one of the three conditions of the
test lasted one minute, and the response sheet included square boxes with unstructured
arrays of dots. In particular, in condition 1 measuring design fluency, students had to
draw designs in boxes containing five solid dots using four consecutive straight lines. In
condition 2, measuring inhibition, boxes contained five solid and five blank dots, and
students had to draw designs connecting only blank dots. In condition 3, measuring
cognitive flexibility, boxes contained five solid and five blank dots, and students had to
draw designs alternating between connecting a solid and a blank dot. They could start
either from a solid or a blank dot. Students’ score in each condition of the test was the
number of correct and unique designs. A total score combining the scores in the three
conditions was also calculated [61].
2.3.2. Situational Interest
Students’ situational interest during the physical education session was measured with
the situational interest scale [
62
]. This scale measures five situational interest dimensions
(consisting of three items each): novelty (e.g., “what we did today was new to me”); instant
enjoyment (e.g., “What we were learning inspires me to try out what we were learning”);
exploration intention (e.g., “I wanted to know more about how to do what we were learning
today”); attention demand (e.g., “I was focused on what we were learning today”); and
challenge (e.g., “What we were learning was complex”). A total interest subscale (four
items) was also included (e.g., “What we were learning was interesting for me to do”).
All items were rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5
(strongly agree). This situational interest scale has been adapted in the Greek language [
42
]
demonstrating a good model fit of the sixth-factor solution,
χ2
(137) = 159.82, p= 0.088,
χ2
/df = 1.17, NNFI = 0.980, CFI = 0.984, RMSEA = 0.034 (90% CI: 0.000–0.055). For Study
1, Cronbach’s alpha for the subscales was: total interest, 0.84, instant enjoyment, 0.83,
exploration, 0.76, attention demand, 0.60, challenge, 0.55, and novelty, 0.90. Due to low
internal consistency of the attention demand and the challenge subscales, these subscales
were excluded. For Study 2, Cronbach’s alphas for the respective subscales were: total
interest, 0.84, instant enjoyment, 0.87, exploration, 0.69, and novelty, 0.89.
2.4. Procedures
The University Ethics Review Committee and the Ministry of Education provided
ethical approval for conducting the study (1522, 5 June 2019). School principals and
physical education teachers provided their permissions too. Participation in the studies
was voluntary for students and the only inclusion criterion was to provide parental written
consent. Both acute experiments were implemented by an experimenter blind to the
aims of the studies, with a master’s degree in physical education. Procedures of the
experiments were piloted with classes of students not participating in this study and
modifications were applied if necessary. These procedures were identical in both studies
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902 7 of 15
and are described in detail next. In particular, the pre-test measure for the design fluency
test was administered one week before the acute experiment. Students completed the test
in their classroom at the beginning of the first physical education session of the week. They
were provided with instructions regarding the completion of each condition of the test,
observed the experimenter perform one trial on the classroom blackboard, and performed a
trial including three boxes of dots. The post-test measure for design fluency and situational
interest was administered just after the end of the acute experiment.
2.5. Description of the Intervention
The Just Dance 2015 exergame by Ubisoft [
63
] was used on a Microsoft Xbox One con-
sole equipped with Kinect. The game is rated “3” by the Pan European Game Information
(PEGI), namely it is suitable for all age groups [
64
]. It comprises 43 popular songs [
65
] and
can accommodate up to 6 simultaneous local players (local multiplayer mode) [
63
]. The
aim of the game is to follow the movements of an on-screen dancing character in time to a
chosen song [
65
,
66
]. Each player’s movement is captured by Kinect and, while the player
is dancing to the song, he/she receives immediate, continuous feedback in the form of
visual cues regarding his/her performance (namely, “OK”, “Good” and “Perfect”, if the
performance is just acceptable, good, or perfect, respectively). After the song has finished,
each player’s scoring points for the specific song are displayed, which are based on how
accurately the player has mimicked the character’s movements while he/she was dancing
the song [66,67].
Due to the unavailability of multiple videogaming consoles, this study was performed
with minimum resources (namely one console), which differentiates it from prior stud-
ies [
51
] that made use of more equipment (e.g., 8 consoles). Furthermore, extending relevant
prior research that had examined solitary or paired exergaming [
51
,
66
,
68
,
69
], in this study
the local multiplayer mode of the game was adopted to serve the class condition.
For the first study, the experiment took place in the school event hall, which occasion-
ally serves as a gym during rainy days. A 32-inch TV, which was available in the school,
was connected to the Xbox One console through an HDMI cable and served as a video
and audio output device. For the second study, the experiment took place in the school
computer lab. The overhead projector and its speakers, that was already installed in the
computer lab, were connected to the Xbox One console through an HDMI cable and served
as a video and audio output device.
In both studies, all students were simultaneously physically active during exergames
activity. In particular, in the first study, children entered the hall in whole classes and
received instructions. They were then divided into teams of 6 persons each, and the
36-person
teams were placed in rows. The first 6-person team was placed in the front row,
facing the TV monitor and Kinect so that the dance movements of those 6 children could be
tracked by Kinect and their performances are commented (“OK”, “Good”, “Perfect”) and
scored within the game environment. The second and the third 6-person teams were placed
in the second and third row, respectively (behind the first team), and could dance following
the on-screen character’s movements, without however being tracked and scored. After
the first 6-person team had danced, it moved to the last row, and the second team moved
to the front row. Rotating in this way, every team had the opportunity to dance in the front
row with tracking and also to dance following the on-screen character while being in the
back rows.
Taking into account prior relevant research that had shown that both solitary [
66
]
and competitive [
69
] exergame play are more effective than cooperative exergaming in
enhancing executive skills, in this study that was conducted at class level, the children
within each 6-player team (those placed in the first row) were not asked to cooperate to
achieve a higher combined score. However, they were neither asked to compete against
each other, to who will achieve the higher individual score, given that, in competitive
exergaming, non-competitive children might feel pressed [
70
]. Nevertheless, the fact that
after each song, the individual scores that the 6 players had achieved were displayed
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902 8 of 15
on-screen, inevitably added a competitive flavor to exergame play. However, these scores
were not used for evaluating or ranking students’ performance, rather all students were
prompted to do their best and their efforts were reinforced.
The children danced to two songs. First, they danced to the song “Happy” (released
in 2013 by Pharrell Williams), which lasts 2 min and 52 s, and is deemed to be of moderate
difficulty requiring moderate effort on the part of the dancer [
71
]. Due to the rotation of
the six-person teams, each child danced the song three times but was tracked and received
feedback once. In continuation, the children danced to the song “Love Me Again” (released
in 2013 by John Newman), which lasts 3 min and 35 s and is also considered of moderate
difficulty [
72
]. Total dance time for each child was 19 and a half minutes. In the second
study, due to space restrictions, students entered the computer lab in groups of eight and
formed two rows of four with the first one being tracked and the second dancing without
tracking. The same songs as in the first study were used. Total dancing time for each child
was about 13 min. For the first study, total duration of exergame play was similar to the
duration reported in previous relevant studies [
49
,
50
,
52
,
66
,
73
,
74
] while, for the second
study, total duration was somewhat lower (54: 20 min, 55: 15 min, 53: 20 min, 67: 20 min).
2.6. Statistical Analysis
Descriptive statistics including mean scores and standard deviations were calculated
for students’ scores in the three conditions and the total score of the DF test and the four
subscales of the situational interest questionnaire. Data from study 1 were analyzed through
a 2 (Group) X 2 (Time) repeated measures MANOVA with group as independent factor,
time as the repeated factor and students’ scores in the three conditions of the DF test as the
dependent variables. Univariate tests for each test condition and paired sample t-tests for
examining pre- to post-test differences followed. Moreover, a 2 (Group) X 2 (Time) repeated
measures ANOVA with students’ total score in the DF test as the dependent variable was
used. The effect of the exergames session on waitlist control group students’ executive
functions was examined through a repeated measures MANOVA with time as the repeated
factor (Time 2 and Time 3) and students’ scores in the three conditions of the DF test at
Time 2 and Time 3 as dependent variables. A repeated measures ANOVA with students’
total score in the DF test as the dependent variable was also conducted. Data from study 2
were analyzed through a repeated measures MANOVA with time (pre-test and post-test) as
the repeated factor and students’ scores in the three conditions of the DF test as dependent
variables. Moreover, a paired samples t-test was used for comparing students’ total scores
in the DF test between pre- and post-test. Effects sizes of partial
η2
and Cohen’s dwere also
calculated [75].
3. Results
3.1. Preliminary Analyses
A principal components analysis with varimax rotation was performed on the scores of
the three conditions of the design fluency test (Study 1). The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (0.63) and
the Bartlett test of sphericity,
χ2
(3) = 169.7, p< 0.001, confirmed the sampling adequacy and
the appropriateness of the correlation matrix for this analysis. One principal component
with eigenvalue >1 resulted in explaining 64.2 of the variances. Therefore, in subsequent
analyses, both the scores of the three test conditions and their total score were used. An
ANOVA showed that boys and girls did not differ on the total DF score,
F(1, 71) = 0.82
,
p= 0.37
, while a MANOVA showed that their difference on the three DF conditions was
not significant, F(3, 69) = 0.38, p= 0.70. An ANOVA showed that the two grade groups did
not differ on the total DF score, F(1, 71) = 0.52, p= 0.48 while a MANOVA showed that
they did not differ on the three DF conditions, F(3, 69) = 0.17, p= 0.92. Thus, scores of both
genders and grades were collapsed within the experimental and waitlist control groups.
The experimental and the control group did not differ at Time 1, neither on the three DF
test conditions, F(3, 69) = 1.12, p= 0.35, nor on the total score of the DF test, F(1, 71) = 0.05,
p= 0.83.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902 9 of 15
3.2. Study 1
3.2.1. Effect of the Exergames on Experimental Group Students’ Executive Function
Table 1presents descriptive statistics for the executive functions test scores separately
for the experimental and the waitlist control group and for the three time measures. A
2 (Group) X 2 (Time) repeated measures MANOVA with the three test condition scores
as dependent variables, showed a significant Group X Time interaction, F(3, 66) = 5.76,
p< 0.001
, partial
η2
= 0.21, power = 0.94. Subsequent univariate tests showed a significant
Group X Time interaction for condition 1 test scores, F(1, 68) = 15.4, p< 0.001, partial
η2= 0.19
, power = 0.97, a non-significant Group X Time interaction for condition 2 test
scores F(1, 68) = 0.38, p= 0.54, and a marginally significant Group X Time interaction for
test condition 3 scores F(1, 68) = 4.17, p= 0.045, partial
η2
= 0.06, power = 0.52. Paired
sample t-tests showed that both the experimental [t(33) =
−
6.0, p< 0.001, d= 1.12, for
test condition 1 scores, and t(33) =
−
3.7, p< 0.001, d= 0.62, for test condition 3 scores]
and the waitlist control group [t(35) =
−
4,2, p< 0.001, d= 0.56, for test condition 1 scores,
and
t(35) = −2.36
,p= 0.024, d= 0.32 for test condition 3 scores] scored higher at Time 2,
however, the improvement was significantly higher for the experimental group. Regarding
the total DF score, the 2 (Group) X 2 (Time) repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant
Group X Time interaction, F(1, 68) = 12.66, p< 0.001, partial
η
2 = 0.16, power = 0.94. Paired
sample t-tests showed that both the experimental, t(33) =
−
6.7, p< 0.001, d= 0.92, and the
waitlist control group, t(36) =
−
5.0, p< 0.001, d= 0.64 improved, however, the improvement
was higher for the experimental group.
Table 1. Descriptive statistics for executive function scores (Study 1).
Time 1 Time 2 Time 3
Experimental Waitlist Control Experimental Waitlist Control Waitlist Control
M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD
DF Condition 1 7.44 3.18 7.91 2.14 11.35 3.79 9.08 2.03 11.42 3.14
DF Condition 2 8.58 3.23 7.89 2.35 10.29 3.86 9.17 1.90 11.14 2.16
DF Condition 3 5.29 2.60 4.97 2.06 6.94 2.72 5.58 1.79 7.47 2.16
DF Total 21.32 7.20 20.78 4.89 28.59 8.57 23.83 4.62 30.03 6.42
3.2.2. Effect of the Exergames Session on Waitlist Control Group Students’
Executive Functions
A repeated measures ANOVA with the total DF score as the dependent variable
and measures at Time 2 and at Time 3, showed that the waitlist control group students
improved significantly after receiving the exergames session, F(1, 35) = 48.76, p< 0.001,
partial
η2= 0.58
, power = 1.0. Similarly, a repeated measures MANOVA with the three
conditions scores of the DF test measures at Time 2 and Time 3, showed a multivariate
significant effect for time, F(3, 33) = 17.55, partial
η2
= 0.62, power = 1.0. Subsequent
univariate tests showed an improvement in all three test condition scores, DF condition 1:
F(1, 35) = 20.1, p< 0.001, partial
η2
= 0.36, power = 0.99, DF condition 2: F(1, 35) = 31.22,
p< 0.001
, partial
η2
= 47, power = 1.0, DF condition 3: F(1, 35) = 32.68, p< 0.001, partial
η2= 48, power = 1.0.
3.2.3. Students’ Situational Interest in Exergames Sessions
Table 2presents descriptive statistics for the four subscales of situational interest
separately for the experimental and the waitlist control group in Study 1 and for the
experimental group in Study 2. Generally, in both studies, students reported high scores (all
above the mid-point of the five-point scale) in the four subscales of the situational interest
questionnaire.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902 10 of 15
Table 2. Descriptive statistics for situational interest scores.
Study 1 Study 2
Experimental Waitlist Control Experimental
M SD M SD M SD
Total Interest 4.27 0.99 3.98 1.08 4.47 0.93
Instant Enjoyment 4.40 1.05 4.17 1.15 4.41 1.02
Exploration 4.07 1.00 3.71 1.16 4.02 1.10
Novelty 3.98 1.31 3.60 1.32 3.60 1.45
3.3. Study 2
Table 3presents descriptive statistics for students’ executive function test scores before
and after the exergames session. A paired samples t-test with the total DF scores before and
after the session provided a significant result, t(38) =
−
2.44, p= 0.019, d= 0.27. However,
a repeated measures MANOVA with the three DF conditions scores as the dependent
variables provided a non-significant result, F(3, 36) = 1.94, p= 0.14.
Table 3. Descriptive statistics for executive function scores (Study 2).
Pre-Test Post-Test
M SD M SD
DF Condition 1 11.54 4.41 12.82 4.46
DF Condition 2 10.28 4.12 11.33 4.31
DF Condition 3 6.28 3.92 6.79 3.59
DF Total 28.10 9.64 30.95 11.07
4. Discussion
This study included two experiments to examine the acute effects of exergaming
on students’ executive functions and situational interests. Generally, the results of these
experiments provided supporting evidence regarding the positive effects of exergaming
on students’ executive functions in physical education. Moreover, students reported
generally high scores in situational interest questionnaire subscales. These results are
discussed next in detail with reference to previous findings and to theoretical and practical
implications for promoting students’ executive functions in physical education and the
potential contribution of exergames in this direction.
Students who participated in the acute physical education session with exergames
improved significantly from pre- to post-test their scores in the first and the third conditions
and in the total score of the design fluency test. Moreover, these improvements from the
pre- to post-test were higher for the experimental group compared to the waitlist control
group. Similarly, the waitlist control group students significantly improved their scores in
the three conditions and in the total score of the design fluency test after receiving the acute
session with exergames compared to their pre-intervention scores. In sum, these results
suggest that an acute physical education session with exergames can positively trigger
students’ executive functions. These results are consistent with previous findings sug-
gesting that exergames can have positive effects on students’ executive
functions [49–51]
.
Moreover, this study expanded the previous ones by showing that students’ executive
functions can be improved by a school-based intervention incorporated into the regular
physical education schedule. The present results are also consistent with previous findings
suggesting that cognitively enriched physical education programs, such as those including
cognitively challenging physical activity games, can effectively promote students’ executive
functions [
43
–
45
]. Thus, exergames may be considered appropriate content for triggering
students’ executive functions [39].
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902 11 of 15
An interesting variation in these results was that in the first study, the improvement
from pre- to post-test in students’ scores on inhibition did not differ between the experimen-
tal and the waitlist control group. This result seems to contrast previous evidence showing
that inhibition is the aspect of executive functions that mostly benefited from physical
activity interventions involving cognitively enriched activities [
31
]. However, a similar
finding was also reported by Benzing et al. [
52
] showing positive effects of an acute bout of
exergame-based physical activity on seventh- to ninth-grade students’ cognitive flexibility
(measured with the design fluency test) but not on inhibition. Future research should
further examine this issue exploring the effects of exergames on all aspects of executive
functions including working memory, which was not examined in this study.
Regarding the booster effects of exergames, the results of the second study showed
that students’ total scores in the design fluency test improved significantly after the acute
session with the exergames compared to the pre-session scores. However, students’ scores
in the three conditions of the design fluency tests improved from pre- to post-test but
this improvement was not significant. Students in the second experiment had already
participated in a four-week intervention and their executive functions had been significantly
increased after the intervention and retained higher two months later compared to the
pre-intervention scores [
38
]. Under these conditions, this small improvement on students’
total score in the executive functions test after the acute experiment with exergames can be
considered important.
Potential mechanisms explaining the effects of exergames on students’ executive func-
tions may be looked into the nature of these games. In particular, recent reviews [
30
,
31
]
have suggested that executive functions are optimally developed when students are in-
volved in physical activities enriched with cognitive challenges. In the case of exergames
and especially dance exergames, such as the one utilized in the present research, the fact
that, apart from whole body activation, these games also require learning and imitation
of sequences of complex movements (instead of the automatic replication of simple, seg-
mented movements), a task which demands attention, memory, coordination, and speed of
action [50,52,66,73,74,76], may account for their beneficial effects on executive functions.
Regarding situational interest, the results of this study showed that students in both
studies generally reported high scores in all subscales of the questionnaire after participat-
ing in the session with exergames. In particular, students’ scores were above the middle of
the scale in the four subscales of the situational interest questionnaire. These scores sug-
gest that exergames have appealing features that attract students’ situational interest [
77
].
However, this is only a descriptive picture reflecting students’ views after participating
in the physical education session with exergames. Thus, no cause-and-effect relationship
can be drawn from these results. Future research should examine the effects of exergames
on students’ situational interest and compare these effects with the respective effects of
other physical activity tasks. Such research should further inform the debate regarding the
effects of exergames on students’ situational interests [
19
]. Indeed, research evidence in
this field seems to be mixed. For example, previous findings have suggested that the effects
of exergames were higher at the onset of a 4-week intervention compared to other types of
physical activity, such as cardiovascular fitness, but these effects declined at the end of the
intervention [
56
,
57
]. Further research in real life physical education conditions is needed to
shed light on the motivational power of exergames.
A strength of this study was that it was conducted in real physical education settings
within normal school hours. Previous studies were mainly conducted in laboratory-like
settings [
49
,
50
], in out-of-school settings [
51
], or in school settings but in laboratory-like
conditions with students participating at an individual level [
49
,
52
]. The acute experiments
included in these studies were conducted at the class level, in realistic classroom situations,
that are inherently social and where the available technological resources may be more
constrained than in laboratory settings. Thus, the ecological validity of the results is
increased and can be used for establishing sound practical implications.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902 12 of 15
Thus, from an applied perspective, exergames may be considered an effective means
for involving students in physical activity and triggering their executive functions. More-
over, considering that students found that exergames are fun, challenging, and attractive,
this means of physical activity may be appropriate for students who are reluctant to par-
ticipate in physical education. Exergames may also be combined with other cognitively
enriched physical education content, such as cognitively challenging physical activity
games, to provide students with appropriate and appealing physical education programs
targeting both physical and cognitive development [
56
]. Further, specialists in devising
cognitively enriched physical education activities may collaborate with exergame designers
with a view to producing innovative exergames that maximize physical and cognitive
benefits alike.
5. Conclusions
The experiments of these studies showed that exergames can have positive acute
effects on students’ executive functions in physical education. Moreover, exergames seem
to have appealing features that attract students’ situational interest. The dance exergames
used in the present research triggered students’ executive functions by demanding atten-
tion, memory, coordination, and speed of action for learning and imitation a sequence of
complex movements rather than involving students in automatic replication of simple, seg-
mented movements. Most importantly, these results came from a school-based intervention
incorporated into the regular physical education schedule.
A potential limitation of this study was that students’ physical activity during ex-
ergames was not measured. Future research should address this limitation by measuring
students’ physical activity during exergames and exploring if these amounts of physi-
cal activity are associated with the effects of exergames on students’ executive functions.
Moreover, a passive control group (i.e., without physical education on testing days) was
involved in the first study. However, this was a waiting list control group that received
the intervention after the implementation of the intervention with the initial experimental
group. Further research is also needed to explore the effects of exergames on students’ exec-
utive functions compared to the potential effects of other physical activity tasks. Moreover,
considering that this study examined the acute effects of a single physical education session
on students’ executive functions, future research should involve larger interventions to
examine the long-term effects of exergames in school settings. Such research should also
involve multiple tests for measuring all aspects of executive functions, including working
memory not measured in this study, and retention measures for evaluating the retention
of the effects of exergames on students’ executive functions. The combined effects of ex-
ergames with other cognitively enriched physical education content, such as cognitively
challenging physical activity games, may be explored. Future research should also involve
other types of exergames comparing the effects of exergames with different characteristics
on students’ executive functions.
Author Contributions:
Conceptualization, M.P. and M.G.; methodology, M.G., M.P. and A.K.; soft-
ware, M.P.; validation, M.G., M.P. and A.K.; formal analysis, M.G. and A.K.; investigation, M.P. and
E.S.; resources, M.P.; data curation, E.S. and A.K.; writing—original draft preparation, A.K. and M.P.;
writing—review and editing, M.P. and M.G.; supervision, M.G. All authors have read and agreed to
the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement:
The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration
of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of the DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL
EDUCATION AND SPORT SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF THESSALY (1522, 5/6/2019).
Informed Consent Statement:
Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in
the study.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023,20, 1902 13 of 15
Data Availability Statement:
The data underlying the results presented in the study are available on
reasonable request from the fourth author (MG; mgoudas@pe.uth.gr).
Acknowledgments:
The authors thank the principals and physical education teachers at the schools
who provided their classes, as well as the students who participated in the studies.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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