Ping Pong: An Exergame for Cognitive Inhibition Training

ABSTRACT

Cognitive inhibition, a key constituent of healthy cognition, has been shown to be susceptible to age-related cognitive declines. Research has shown that cognitive rehabilitation training can facilitate older adults to maintain healthy cognitive functions. Compared to cognitive rehabilitation alone, the combination of physical and cognitive exercises is more effective to train older adults’ cognitive functions. Focusing on the training of older adults’ cognitive inhibition, we design the Ping Pong exergame in this work, which incorporates the traditional cognitive task with physical exercises in the game environment to improve older adults’ cognitive inhibition. A longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate the usability of Ping Pong exergame and its effectiveness on training older adults’ cognitive inhibition. The results show that the Ping Pong exergame received a good usability score and players presented significantly better performance in cognitive tasks after playing the exergame.

Acknowledgments

This research is supported, in part, by the Singapore Ministry of Health under its National Innovation Challenge on Active and Confident Ageing (NIC Project No. MOH/NIC/COG04/2017), and also by the National Research Foundation, Singapore, under its AI Singapore Programme (AISG Award No: AISG–GC–2019–003). Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of National Research Foundation, Singapore.

Declaration of potential conflict of interest

The authors report no potential conflicts of interest.

Notes

1. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/table-tennis-gains-popularity-in-singapore-8127732

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation; [AISG– Q6GC–2019–003], and the Singapore Ministry of Health; [MOH/NIC/COG04/2017].

Notes on contributors

Hao Zhang

Hao Zhang received his Ph.D from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He is currently a research associate at NTU. His research interests lie in human-computer interaction and game design.

Zhiqi Shen

Zhiqi Shen is a senior lecturer in School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He obtained B.Sc. in Peking University, M.Eng. in Beijing University of Technology, and Ph.D in NTU, respectively. His research interests include artificial intelligence, software agents, multi-agent systems, goal-oriented modeling, game design, etc.

Siyuan Liu

Siyuan Liu is a lecturer in Department of Computer Science at the Swansea University. She got Ph.D from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Her previous positions include System Architect in Singapore Telecommunications Limited and Research Fellow in NTU. Her research interest includes multiagent systems and series games.

Dazhong Yuan

Dazhong Yuan is currently a master student at Nanyang Technological University. He received his bachelor degree from Jilin University. His research interests lie in data mining and human-computer interaction.

Chunyan Miao

Chunyan Miao is a professor in School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). She received her Ph.D from NTU and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Computing, Simon Fraser University, Canada. Her current research is focused on human-centered computational/artificial intelligence and interactive media.