Can you feel the rhythm? Comparing vibrotactile and auditory stimuli in the rhythm video game Jump‘n'Rhythm

Katya Alvarez-Molina, Anke V. Reinschluessel, Tim Kratky, Martin Scharpenberg and Rainer Malaka

Behaviour and Information Technology, 2024, vol. 43, issue 11, 2343-2360

Abstract: Rhythm is essential in early music education. To acquire rhythm abilities, the synchronisation between body and rhythm patterns is fundamental. Extensive research has shown the link between the auditory-motor system and rhythm acquisition; however, other sensorimotor systems also improve rhythm skills. Rhythm acquisition can be trained using new technologies, such as video games; however, most of these use mainly auditory stimuli to improve it. Therefore, in this work, we explore tactile stimuli to improve rhythm skills using a video game and how visual elements affect rhythm perception using different stimuli. We evaluate and compare the synchronisation of 27 participants following either vibrotactile or auditory stimuli emitted through a rhythm video game in two difficulty levels and we evaluated the user experience. Consistent with the literature, our results indicate that participants synchronised slightly better using auditory than vibrotactile stimuli and players’ performance was better when they had visual guides. A fatigue effect persisted and increased over playtime in both conditions. In the current study, usability measures indicate no significant differences. These findings suggest that vibrotactile stimuli are also suitable to train rhythm skills in a video game environment and the game-elements play an important role in players' performance.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/0144929X.2023.2243525 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:tbitxx:v:43:y:2024:i:11:p:2343-2360

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/tbit20

DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2023.2243525

Access Statistics for this article

Behaviour and Information Technology is currently edited by Dr Panos P Markopoulos

More articles in Behaviour and Information Technology from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().