New Paper in Fronties in Virtual Reality

Congratulations to Gan who has had his first paper published from his PhD work! Abstract below:

Many virtual reality (VR) exergames incorporate social elements, yet it remains unclear how different social configurations shape exercise motivation and performance. We conducted a mixed-methods within-subject study with 30 participants comparing three VR cycling implementations: a self-paced Solo baseline, a Cooperative-framed pacing condition using a replay-based self- or friend-modelled virtual partner, and an adaptive AI-Competitive condition. Participants completed three 20-min sessions. Mean power output, heart rate, electrodermal activity, perceived exertion, and standardized motivation measures were analysed using repeated-measures methods, while post-session open-ended responses were analysed thematically. The Solo baseline was administered first to generate the replay profile, and the order of the two social conditions was counterbalanced. The Cooperative-framed condition produced the highest IMI enjoyment, whereas the adaptive AI-Competitive condition produced the highest mean power output. Both social conditions had lower post-session perceived-exertion ratings than Solo. Participants described the Cooperative-framed condition primarily in terms of companionship, shared pacing, and reduced isolation, while the AI-Competitive condition was described in terms of challenge, comparison, and goal pursuit. Because the AI-Competitive implementation combined competitive framing with heart-rate-responsive pacing, its higher output cannot be attributed to competition alone. These findings show that complete social-exercise implementations can be associated with distinct short-term motivational and performance profiles. Cooperative social framing may support enjoyment and perceived relatedness, whereas adaptive competitive pacing may support short-term performance challenge. Longitudinal and better-matched control designs are required to isolate the effects of social framing from pacing adaptation and to determine whether these patterns support sustained exercise engagement.

Reference

Gao, G., Lynch, G., Finnegan, D. J., Verdezoto, N. D., Barathi, S.
Comparative effects of cooperative and competitive social models on motivation and physiological engagement in VR exergaming
PDF: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/virtual-reality/articles/10.3389/frvir.2026.1897543/full
DOI: 10.3389/frvir.2026.1897543