Background: Therapeutic virtual reality (VR) has emerged as an effective treatment modality for cognitive and physical training in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, to replace existing nonpharmaceutical treatment training protocols, VR platforms need significant improvement if they are to appeal to older people with symptoms of cognitive decline and meet their specific needs. Objective: This study aims to design and test the acceptability, usability, and tolerability of an immersive VR platform that allows older people with MCI symptoms to simultaneously practice physical and cognitive skills on a dual task. Methods: On the basis of interviews with 20 older people with MCI symptoms (15 females; mean age 76.25, SD 5.03 years) and inputs from their health care providers (formative study VR1), an interdisciplinary group of experts developed a VR system called VRADA (VR Exercise App for Dementia and Alzheimer’s Patients). Using an identical training protocol, the VRADA system was first tested with a group of 30 university students (16 females; mean age 20.86, SD 1.17 years) and then with 27 older people (19 females; mean age 73.22, SD 9.26 years) who had been diagnosed with MCI (feasibility studies VR2a and VR2b). Those in the latter group attended two Hellenic Association Day Care Centers for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders. Participants in both groups were asked to perform a dual task training protocol that combined physical and cognitive exercises in two different training conditions. In condition A, participants performed a cycling task in a lab environment while being asked by the researcher to perform oral math calculations (single-digit additions and subtractions). In condition B, participants performed a cycling task in the virtual environment while performing calculations that appeared within the VR app. Participants in both groups were assessed in the same way; this included questionnaires and semistructured interviews immediately after the experiment to capture perceptions of acceptability, usability, and tolerability, and to determine which of the two training conditions each participant preferred. Results: Participants in both groups showed a significant preference for the VR condition (students: mean 0.66, SD 0.41, t29=8.74, P<.001; patients with MCI: mean 0.72, SD 0.51, t26=7.36, P<.001), as well as high acceptance scores for intended future use, attitude toward VR training, and enjoyment. System usability scale scores (82.66 for the students and 77.96 for the older group) were well above the acceptability threshold (75/100). The perceived adverse effects were minimal, indicating a satisfactory tolerability. Conclusions: The findings suggest that VRADA is an acceptable, usable, and tolerable system for physical and cognitive training of older people with MCI and university students. Randomized controlled trial studies are needed to assess the efficacy of VRADA as a tool to promote physical and cognitive health in patients with MCI.

Adolescents’ daily life has dramatically changed during the COVID-19 era due to the social restrictions that have been imposed, including closures of schools, leisure centers and sport facilities. The purpose of this study was to examine levels of well-being and mood and their relations with physical (in)activity and eating behaviors in adolescents during a lockdown period in Greece. A total of 950 adolescents (Mean Age = 14.41 years ± 1.63) participated in a web-based survey while education was conducted online and organized sport activities were interrupted. Participants showed poor well-being, insufficient physical activity levels and moderate scores of healthy eating behavior. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that, after controlling for the effect of gender and body mass index, increased physical activity and healthier eating behavior predicted better well-being (b = 0.24, p < 0.01 and b = 0.19, p < 0.01, respectively), whereas sedentariness predicted worse well-being (b = −0.16, p < 0.01). Furthermore, it was revealed that days of physical activity per week was a stronger predictor of well-being than minutes of physical activity per week, and that both in-house and out-of-house physical activity were beneficial. Considering that well-being in our study was below the threshold recommended by the World Health Organization as indicative of possible depressive symptoms, measures to increase physical activity, decrease sedentariness and improve eating behavior should become a priority for communities and policy makers.

Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of a real or imaginary three-dimensional environment that has entered our lives, particularly for gaming. Lately, it has been permeating into many aspects of our everyday life, such as exercise. It is important to ascertain whether exercise in an immersive virtual reality environment can be accepted from employees and lead to positive outcomes for them. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine the acceptance, future adoption, interest/enjoyment and usability of an immersive virtual reality system for exercise training by office workers during breaks within their working hours. A total of 40 female employees participated in the study with a mean age of 42.58 years (SD 10.77). Participants were requested to complete two sequential 15-min dual task cycling sessions corresponding to two experimental conditions. The first, condition A, involved cycling in a virtual environment, wearing a virtual reality head mounted display, and responding to cognitive tasks by answering multiple choice questions—on a screen, using a joystick. The second, condition B, involved cycling on a static bicycle and simultaneously responding to cognitive tasks by answering multiple choice questions in a real environment. After completion of the two conditions, participants responded to a series of scales regarding each of the experimental conditions and to a semi-structured interview. The results showed that participants noted a significant preference for the immersive virtual reality exercise, condition A, compared to condition B (bike only); and their acceptance, interest/enjoyment, usability and intention for future use were high. The qualitative data showed increased intention for future use, feelings of control and presence and most of the participants did not encounter any difficulties or require extra help to understand the immersive virtual reality system. Overall, exercising during working hours with an immersive virtual reality exercise system was well perceived by office workers and applicable. However, the effects of the immersive virtual reality training system on physical and mental health and the employees’ adherence to the exercise program should be tested with a longer intervention program.

In the sport psychology literature, the use of self-talk strategies has proven effective for enhancing task performance, and preliminary evidence suggests that the effectiveness of self-talk can be partly attributed to attentional mechanisms. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the effects of self-talk strategies on different attention functions, namely, alertness, vigilance, focused, selective, divided, and spatial attention. A between-subjects experimental design was adopted. Six experiments were conducted involving 255 (130 males and 125 females) participants (mean age 21.17 ± 2.31), assigned into experimental and control groups. A five-session protocol was implemented including baseline testing, training intervention, and final assessment. The Test Battery for Perception and Attention Functions from the Vienna Test System was used to assess attention functions. The analysis showed that in all experiments, in 14 out of 17 tests, the experimental groups had faster reaction times than the control groups, and a meta-analytic synthesis of the results showed a large effect size (d = 0.75). The findings suggest that self-talk benefit the attention functions and support postulations for an attentional interpretation of the facilitating effects of self-talk strategies on task performance.

States of reduced self-control described as ego depletion have been shown to impair sport task performance. Recently, self-talk has emerged as a successful method to counteract ego depletion effects in cognitive tasks. Extending this line of research, the present study examined the effects of a self-talk intervention on attention functions and performance in a golf-putting task under conditions of ego depletion. Two studies were conducted; the first involved a simple putting task, whereas in the second, a divided attention factor was introduced in addition. Participants in the first experiment were 62 sport science students (30 females and 32 males, M_age = 18.58, SD = 1.03) who were randomly assigned into experimental (n = 31) and control (n = 31) groups. Participants in the second experiment were 54 sport science students (27 females and 27 males, M_age = 19.91, SD = 1.04) who were randomly assigned into experimental (n = 27) and control (n = 27) groups. Both experiments were completed in a single session that lasted approximately 60 min. All participants were tested individually. The procedures included (a) baseline performance assessment consisting of two sets of ten putts, (b) practice period, consisting of six sets of five putts, during which the experimental group was also introduced to the use of strategic self-talk, (c) an ego-depleting task, and (d) final performance assessment, which was identical to the baseline. The results showed that in both experiments, performance of the experimental group increased from baseline to final assessment (experiment 1, p < 0.001; experiment 2, p = 0.023), whereas that of the control group had no significant change (experiment 1: p = 0.241; experiment 2: p = 0.407). The findings showed that self-talk is an effective strategy for buffering the effects of ego depletion and suggest that improved attention functions are a viable mechanism for explaining the facilitating effects of self-talk on sport performance tasks.

In sports, athletes might train or compete with some degree of mental fatigue that has an impact on performance. The present study investigated the effect of strategic motivational self-talk on endurance performance in mentally fatigued individuals. Twelve healthy men performed three cycling endurance tests at 80% peak power output until exhaustion. Two experimental conditions (mental fatigue [MF] and mental fatigue plus motivational self-talk [MF + M−ST]) and a control condition (CO) were set out. Mental fatigue was induced via 30 min Stroop task; an electroencephalogram of the frontal cerebral cortex was continually monitored. Affective state and perceived exertion were recorded during each session and subjective workload after the endurance exercise trials. Theta band power spectral density was significantly higher in both experimental condition (MF and MF + M−ST) compared to CO, without significant differences between MF and MF + M−ST. Endurance performance was significantly worse in MF (227 ± 63s) than in CO (329 ± 84s). However, motivational self-talk reversed the deleterious effect of MF on endurance performance as in MF + M−ST (368 ± 139s) it was significantly better than MF and not significantly different from CO. Displeasure and perceived exertion scores were similar at the end of exercise and presented similar rate of increase among conditions. Mental demand after exercise was significantly greater in MF than in CO condition. These results suggest that motivational self-talk mitigates the negative effect of MF on endurance performance due to an elevated engagement with the task. Lay summary: This study examined to what extent the deliberate and planned use of cue words to enhance motivation (i.e., motivational self-talk), influenced endurance performance in mentally fatigued individuals. The harmful impact of mental fatigue on endurance performance was mitigated by using motivational self-talk during cycling exercise.