Abstract Virtual reality (VR)–based exercise interventions have increasingly been applied in both sports training and health-related contexts. By integrating physical activity with immersive and interactive environments, VR may offer opportunities to simultaneously stimulate motor and cognitive processes. This meta-analysis aimed to systematically evaluate the effects of VR-based exercise interventions on cognitive performance and motor performance, and to explore potential moderating factors such as task characteristics and age. A systematic search was conducted in Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, CNKI, and EBSCO from database inception to August 2025 to identify studies investigating VR-based exercise interventions. Eligible studies were required to report cognitive or motor outcomes with sufficient data for effect size calculation. Effect sizes were calculated using Hedges’ g and pooled using a three-level random-effects model to account for multiple effect sizes within studies. Subgroup analyses, meta-regression, sensitivity analyses, and publication bias assessments were also performed. A total of 27 effect sizes were included for cognitive outcomes and 18 effect sizes for motor outcomes. The pooled results indicated significant positive effects of VR-based exercise interventions on both cognitive performance (g = 0.73, 95% CI 0.43, 1.04, p < 0.001) and motor outcomes (g = 0.95, 95% CI 0.48, 1.43, p < 0.001). Subgroup analyses suggested numerically larger effects for complex cognitive tasks compared with simple tasks, and slightly larger effects for open-skill tasks relative to closed-skill tasks. Meta-regression analysis revealed a significant non-linear (inverted U-shaped) association between age and cognitive outcomes, whereas age did not significantly moderate motor outcomes. Sensitivity analyses indicated stable pooled estimates, although funnel plot asymmetry suggested potential publication bias for motor outcomes. VR-based exercise interventions were associated with improvements in both cognitive and motor outcomes. These findings suggest that VR may provide a promising platform for integrating physical activity with cognitively engaging training environments. However, further well-designed randomized controlled trials with larger samples and standardized outcome measures are needed to better clarify the effectiveness of VR-based exercise interventions.
Ji et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: