Enhancing Elementary School Students’ Visual Perceptual Skills: A Comparative Study of Oculus Quest 2 Exergames and Conventional Activities

The purpose of this study was to investigate potential differences between two exercise training programs among elementary school students: one based on Oculus Quest 2 exergames and the other on conventional activities, focusing on the Visual Pursuit (VP) skills of visual tracking and selective attention. The study comprised two cohorts: the Oculus Quest (OQ) group and the Typical Activity (TA) group. Engaged a total of forty (n=40) students, specifically selected from the fifth and sixth grades of two public elementary schools situated in the northern region of Greece. The participants, aged 10 to 12 years, consisted of 17 boys and 23 girls. Evaluation of the children’s VP abilities occurred through a Visual Pursuit Test administered prior to the interventions (pre-test), after the intervention sessions (post-test), and one month after the interventions (1-month retention test). This program spanned a duration of 6 weeks, with sessions held twice per week, each session lasting 30 minutes. Two-way analyses of variance with repeated measures, were conducted to determine effect of training program groups (TA, OQ) and measurements (pre-test, post-test, 1-month retention test) across time on VP performance. Analysis of the data illustrated that the post-test and 1-month retention test VP scores were remarkably greater than pre-test VP scores in both groups. In conclusion, the findings indicate that both utilizing Oculus Quest 2 VR and conventional activities as interventions show promise in enhancing the VP abilities of elementary school children. This suggests that VR technology, alongside typical methods, could be a valuable tool in Physical Education settings for improving cognitive skills among young learners.