This study examines how humanities undergraduates’ perceptions of GenAI interaction features relate to co-creation and future task confidence within a stimulus-organism-response framework. Drawing on survey data from 517 Chinese university students, we conducted observed-variable path analysis and bootstrap mediation analysis. The revised model allowed residual correlations among organism-level states measured in the same survey session and showed good fit (chi-square = 3.56, df = 2, CFI = .999, TLI = .987, RMSEA = .039, SRMR = .008). Perceived GenAI interaction features were positively associated with beneficial offloading, dependent offloading, agency/autonomy, and self-efficacy. Beneficial offloading, agency/autonomy, and self-efficacy were positively associated with both co-creation and future task confidence, whereas dependent offloading was not significantly associated with either outcome after the other organism variables were considered. Bootstrap analyses indicated significant indirect associations through beneficial offloading, agency/autonomy, and self-efficacy, but not through dependent offloading. Harman’s single-factor test indicated that the first unrotated factor explained 35.2% of the variance, below the conventional 50% threshold. Sensitivity analyses further examined a co-creation-to-future-confidence path and disaggregated stimulus features. The findings suggest that humanities students’ reported GenAI-supported co-creation and future task confidence are linked less to offloading in general than to productive offloading, agency, and confidence-supportive use.

BACKGROUND Background: Immersive exercise technologies are increasingly proposed to support healthy aging, yet sustained adoption among older adults remains inconsistent. Prior work often treats acceptance as a static decision and frequently aggregates virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR), potentially obscuring modality-specific adoption mechanisms. OBJECTIVE Objective: This study aimed to examine how older adults’ adoption of immersive Tai Chi exercise evolves over time and whether VR and MR support sustained engagement through different mechanisms. Specifically, we investigated phase-specific barriers and facilitators across entry, adaptation, and adoption negotiation, as well as differences in trust development and continued use between VR and MR conditions. METHODS Methods: Guided by the Dynamic Barrier Framework (DBF), we conducted a qualitative-dominant mixed-methods longitudinal study of older adults completing repeated immersive Tai Chi training. Participants completed one initial session and six repeat sessions. Semi-structured interviews captured evolving barriers and facilitators across DBF phases (entry, adaptation, and adoption negotiation). Quantitative measures of subjective experience and cybersickness, together with session-level performance logs, were integrated for descriptive triangulation. RESULTS Results: Thirty-five participants were enrolled (VR: n = 16; MR: n = 19); 34 provided complete quantitative data (VR: n = 16; MR: n = 18). Across modalities, adoption unfolded through three sequential phases with systematic shifts in barriers and facilitators. Early resistance was driven more by uncertainty and perceived control than by physiological discomfort alone. VR engagement was more closely linked to immersive and affective value, whereas MR engagement emphasized skill adaptation and the emergence of trust over time. Performance logs indicated learning across repeated sessions, aligning with self-reported experience. CONCLUSIONS Conclusions: Older adults’ immersive exercise adoption is dynamic and phase-sensitive. VR and MR may foster sustained engagement through differentiated mechanisms, suggesting the need for phase-tailored support strategies in community deployment. CLINICALTRIAL Trial Registration: Not applicable.

Background: Immersive exercise systems may support guided movement practice and physical activity among older adults, but adoption of head-mounted systems cannot be inferred from single-session usability or intention ratings. Older adults must negotiate unfamiliar equipment, movement safety, comfort, perceived control, trust, and perceived benefit. Virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) are often grouped as extended reality despite different sensory and safety affordances. Objective: This study examined how older adults’ barriers and facilitators evolved during repeated immersive Tai Chi training and how VR and MR delivery appeared to shape immersion, control, trust, safety appraisal, and conditional willingness to continue use. Methods: We conducted an exploratory, qualitative-dominant longitudinal mixed methods follow-up study in Hunan, China. Community-dwelling adults aged 60 years or older completed guided Tai Chi training in VR or MR while retaining parent-study allocation; comparisons were descriptive and hypothesis-generating. The completed-protocol quantitative sample and the main qualitative denominator each included 34 participants (VR: n=16; MR: n=18). Data sources comprised semistructured interviews, Game Experience Questionnaire dimensions, Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire (VRSQ) scores, safety observations, and task performance logs from days 1, 3, and 6. Qualitative data were coded using a Dynamic Barrier Framework–informed codebook and integrated with descriptive quantitative summaries. Results: Adoption unfolded as a staged process. During entry, unfamiliarity, competence concerns, and mild physical discomfort shaped responses. Initial uncertainty was endorsed by 7 of 16 (43.8%, 95% CI 23.1‐66.8) VR participants and 6 of 18 (33.3%, 95% CI 16.3‐56.3) MR participants. During adaptation, participants described practice, feedback, social reinforcement, and environmental experience; accuracy improved from day 1 to day 6 by 0.083 (95% CI 0.024‐0.142) in VR and 0.103 (95% CI 0.037‐0.169) in MR. Late-stage willingness remained conditional on comfort, safety, content variety, and usefulness. VR accounts more often emphasized environmental immersion and affective value, whereas MR accounts more often emphasized reality grounding, perceived control, and trust. Standardized VRSQ scores were low overall (VR 8.65 and MR 5.65, on a 0‐100 scale), with no falls, serious adverse events, or session terminations. Conclusions: This study combines repeated qualitative accounts with symptom, safety, and performance evidence while holding the Tai Chi content constant across VR and MR delivery. Unlike single-session acceptance studies, broad extended reality comparisons, or endpoint-only evaluations, it shows adoption as a phase-sensitive and conditional process rather than a one-time decision. The Dynamic Barrier Framework explains how entry barriers may soften, persist, or change meaning and how modality-sensitive affordances shape experience without implying device superiority. In practice, immersive exercise should combine gradual orientation, monitored exposure, comfort and safety safeguards, understandable feedback, social support, and modality-sensitive design. Longer community or home follow-up remains necessary before inferring sustained adherence or unsupervised safety.

1. Head-mounted virtual reality (HMD-VR) has transitioned from an experimental novelty to a realistic option for everyday schooling (Alfadil, 2024; Wu et al., 2020; Yu & Duan, 2024). For language e...

Background: Immersive virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used for embodied training, but its practical value for older adults depends on whether the experiential benefits can be achieved without unacceptable discomfort or overstated claims about motor learning. Objective: This randomized study compared head-mounted immersive VR with standardized, content-matched 2D video instruction for Tai Chi movement-encoding in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: A total of 106 older adults were randomized to immersive VR (n=56) or video instruction (n=50). The primary analysis included 92 participants with complete age, pretest, and posttest data (VR: n=45; Video: n=47). The primary outcome was a 5-item movement-encoding knowledge score (range 0‐20), analyzed using analysis of covariance, with posttest score as the dependent variable and group, pretest score, and age as predictors. Secondary outcomes were intrinsic motivation, game experience, and learning engagement; safety, tolerability, and feasibility were assessed using the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, Game Experience Questionnaire, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale–Short Form, participant flow, and Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire. VR system telemetry was analyzed descriptively as an exploratory process outcome. Results: Adjusted posttest movement-encoding performance did not differ between VR and video instruction (adjusted difference −0.27, 95% CI −2.25 to 1.72; P =.79; partial η ² =0.001). The Game Experience Questionnaire results favored VR for competence (Video: mean 3.36, SD 1.21; VR: mean 4.15, SD 0.92; q =0.009), flow (Video: mean 3.77, SD 1.26; VR: mean 4.46, SD 0.76; q =0.014), and lower tension (Video: mean 1.76, SD 1.04; VR: mean 1.27, SD 0.63; q =0.037), whereas challenge did not remain significant after false discovery rate correction ( q =0.073). In the VR Group, recognition accuracy was associated with posttest movement-encoding score (n=44; r =0.317, P =.04), but pose accuracy was not (n=44; r =0.129, P =.41). The Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire scores were low among valid VR participants (total score mean 3.77, SD 11.12), and 36 out of 46 (78%) participants reported zero symptoms. Conclusions: With a strong active control, immersive VR did not produce higher short-term Tai Chi movement-encoding performance than video instruction. Among participants who completed the VR session, the immediate game-experience profile was more favorable. These findings indicate that VR may offer experiential benefits, while also highlighting the need to manage cybersickness and technical exclusions and to distinguish movement knowledge from actual motor execution.

UNSTRUCTURED Immersive virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used for embodied training, yet its ergonomic value for older adults depends on human factors trade-offs between experiential benefits and VR-related discomfort. We conducted a randomized, two-arm pre-test/post-test trial comparing head-mounted immersive VR (Meta Quest 3/3S) with standardized, content-matched 2D video instruction for Tai Chi learning among community-dwelling older adults (106 randomized; 92 included in the primary ANCOVA). Task performance was assessed using a five-item movement-encoding (knowledge) test (0–20) administered before and after training, and the post-test effect was evaluated using ANCOVA controlling for pre-test score and age. Adjusted post-test performance did not differ between groups (p = .80). In contrast, human factors outcomes diverged: FDR-adjusted analyses of the Game Experience Questionnaire indicated higher perceived competence and flow and lower tension in the VR group (q < .05). Safety and tolerability were characterized using the Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire (VRSQ), with a small number of withdrawals due to VR-related discomfort, highlighting feasible use for many participants but non-trivial individual boundaries. VR system telemetry (recognition accuracy, pose accuracy, and movement distance) provided descriptive process-level indicators during task execution. Overall, under a strong active control, immersive VR did not improve short-term movement-encoding outcomes but produced a more favorable affective experience, with clearly defined tolerability limits that should inform the ergonomic design and deployment of immersive training for older adults.