A VR-Based Serious Game for Studying Emotional Regulation in Adolescents

Abstract

TITLE: A VR-based Serious Game for Studying Emotional Regulation in Adolescents ABSTRACT:We all use more or less adapted strategies to confront adverse emotional situations in our lives without being psychologically affected. Emotional Regulation (ER) strategies that we use determine the way in which we feel, express and behave. Moreover, ER strategies are particularly important in adolescents, a population in the age when the deficits of ER strategies can be linked to the appearance of numerous mental health disorders such as depression or anxiety, or disruptive behaviors. Thus, the early detection of dysfunctional ER strategies and the training in adaptive ER strategies will help us to prevent the future occurrence of possible behavioral and psychosocial disorders. In this paper, we present the GAMETEEN SYSTEM (GT-System), a novel instrument based on Virtual Reality and serious games for the assessment and training of ER strategies in adolescent population. The results of our preliminary evaluation suggest that this system is effective in training and evaluating emotional regulation strategies in the adolescent population.

A game for emotional regulation in adolescents: The (body) interface device matters

“…GT-system is a serious game that consists of two phases: a frustration induction game, which induces an emotion of frustration in the user, and a training phase, which allows users to practice two ER strategies through two games: the breathing strategy game and the attention strategy game. In a previous study (Rodríguez et al, 2015), results showed that the frustration induction game was able to significantly increase participants' frustration, and the training phase was able to reduce it.…”

“…A betweensubjects design was employed for this experiment. The study compared three different interface devices (computer, smartphone, and RGB-D camera) to teach adolescents ER strategies using the GTSystem (Rodríguez et al, 2015). The scenarios for the three groups had the same objectives (i.e., to teach ER strategies), included the same games (frustration induction game and breathing strategy game), and were used in the same location (school classroom).…”

“…Frustration induction game (Rodríguez et al, 2015): It is a game based on virtual reality, designed to induce negative mood (frustration) in participants. It is a version of the classic "whack a mole" game, simulating a rural landscape scene with several holes, where moles appear and disappear continuously for 3 min.…”

“…Moreover, the system uses mocking sounds and red flashes when a mole escapes. In addition, negative feedback messages (i.e., "You are not achieving the goal") are displayed every 30 s. Breathing strategy game (Rodríguez et al, 2015): It is a game based on virtual reality, developed to train slow breathing as an ER strategy. It consists of a feather that goes up and down on the screen of the device for 45 s in one constant movement (2.5 s each).…”

“…So far, few studies have used this tool to prevent ER difficulties in a non-clinical population. For this reason, the GameTeen System (GT-System; Rodríguez et al, 2015) was designed to teach adolescents skills to tolerate and cope with unwanted emotions through the use of ER strategies. GT-system is a serious game that consists of two phases: a frustration induction game, which induces an emotion of frustration in the user, and a training phase, which allows users to practice two ER strategies through two games: the breathing strategy game and the attention strategy game.…”