Dan Graham

Increasing walking behavior is desirable from public health, environmental, and urban planning perspectives. Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to improve the design of walkable environments. However, the current research was necessary to determine whether walking decisions in VR mirror those in the real world (RW). Participants completed two study sessions: walking in a VR simulation of a historic district (VR session) and walking in the real-life district (RW session). During each session, participants were asked to complete three tasks (e.g., find a restaurant) and stop walking following task completion. Heart rate (HR) data contained a high degree of missingness, so no HR analyses are reported. Nevertheless, walking intensity is addressed through exploratory negative binomial and Poisson regression models predicting duration in light and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity using accelerometry. These models indicated no relationship between physical activity intensity in VR and the RW. Additionally, a paired t-test and mixed-effects model indicated that walking duration was significantly longer in VR than the RW. However, exploratory analyses suggested order effects: those who walked first in the RW walked similar durations in both settings, but those that walked first in VR walked for about 5 min longer in VR (17.8 min) than in the RW (13.0 min). In conclusion, walking intensity in VR may not mimic walking intensity in the RW, however, depending on the order of condition presentation, walking decisions in VR may resemble RW decisions. Possible explanations for the observed order effects include history effects, VR navigation and skill transfer, and participant motivation.

Background: Virtual reality (VR) is a potential solution to the lack of causal evidence regarding how changing the physical environment can increase walking. For VR to be employed in walkability research, the degree to which walking in VR mimics the real world (RW) must be quantified. Methods: In a preregistered study, 39 participants walked in a historic RW district and in a VR replica. In both environments, participants completed “errands” by either walking to specific locations (e.g., a bank) or choosing an alternate transportation option representing driving. Results: Accounting for preregistered controls, walking duration differed along a session‐number‐by‐condition (VR/RW) interaction; however, when stratified by condition order, participants walked for a comparable duration in VR and the RW. Generally, participants enjoyed physical activity (PA) less and were more likely to choose the driving option in VR than the RW, although their self‐reported walking motivation was equivalent. Concerning intensity, average heart rate (HR) and moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity (MVPA) duration based on HR were equivalent across conditions, while light PA duration (based on HR) and MVPA duration based on accelerometry were lower in VR. Lastly, certain psychosocial judgments of the VR and RW environments (e.g., mood) were similar, while others differed (e.g., spaciousness). Discussion: Although participants walked similar durations in VR and the RW, transportation decisions differed, perhaps due to less intense walking in VR, leading to a shortage of time to complete the “errands.” Individuals tend to walk more slowly and cautiously in VR, meaning participants may have chosen the quicker alternative (“driving”) out of necessity rather than out of a desire to stop walking. The current study concerned a highly walkable, homogeneous environment; further research should investigate the comparability of VR and RW walking in diverse locations. This research has important implications for using VR in urban planning and city decision‐making.

Research suggests that mental activation of human social support may reduce stress reactivity. However, the extent to which social support from pets elicits a similar effect has been less explored. This study aims to determine whether the mental activation of one’s pet dog reduces stress reactivity to a subsequent experimental stressor. In a 2 × 2 design, 132 dog-owning participants (M_age = 20.14; 80% female) were randomly assigned to one of two mental activation conditions (pet dog; general) and one of two stressor conditions (social-evaluative; cognitive). Data were analyzed with two-way ANOVAs with self-reported (positive/negative affect, negative self-evaluation) and physiological (blood pressure, heart rate) dependent variables. Results indicated that participants randomized to the pet dog mental activation condition had smaller decreases in positive affect from baseline to post-stressor compared to the general mental activation condition. However, there were no significant interactions between time and mental activation condition on negative affect, negative self-evaluation, heart rate, or blood pressure. Thus, the mental activation of one’s pet dog had a minimal effect on stress reactivity to a cognitive or social-evaluative stressor. Results suggest that the physical presence of an animal may be an essential mechanism underlying the benefits of animal-derived social support.

This study used a daily diary approach to examine associations between day-level physical activity (PA) behavior, PA-specific motivational profile, and days since the COVID-19 national emergency declaration during the early months (April–June 2020) of the pandemic. A total of 468 US adults (M_age = 34.8 y, 79% female) participated in a 28-day smartphone-based daily diary study assessing PA. A baseline survey assessed PA and motivation for PA using the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire. Multilevel linear regression models examined the main effects and interactions of motivational profile and time (days since the US March 13, 2020, COVID-19 national emergency declaration) on daily PA minutes. Latent profile analysis identified 4 distinct motivational profiles for PA among this sample: profile 1: high amotivation (n = 100, 21%); profile 2: low controlled motivation (n = 55, 12%); profile 3: high external regulation (n = 47, 10%); and profile 4: moderate autonomous motivation (n = 266, 57%). After controlling for baseline PA, there were significant interactions between profile and time on daily PA (−0.21, P < .01). Profile 2 showed greater decreases in daily PA minutes over time than profile 1 (b = −0.29, P < .01). Profiles 3 and 4 did not indicate significant decreases in PA compared with profile 1 (b = 0.14, P = .31 and b = −0.16, P = .05, respectively). Contrary to previous research, individuals with lower controlled or moderate autonomous motivation demonstrated the largest decreases in PA over time, whereas individuals with higher amotivation or external regulation demonstrated smaller decreases over time. These findings suggest that external motivation may have provided short-term protection against declines in PA observed during early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The aim of this research was to determine whether parent/child pairs choosing products from a grocery aisle labeled with front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels would make more healthful choices than pairs who viewed the same items without labels, and to determine the added value of viewing an explanatory video before choosing. In this experiment, 175 parent/child pairs chose USD 20 worth of packaged foods and beverages from a grocery aisle in a research laboratory and were randomly assigned to see products that either did or did not have 0–4-star FOP labels, with more stars indicating more healthful products. Among those participants with access to FOP labels, half were randomly assigned to view a 30 s video explaining the FOP labels before selecting foods. Participants who saw the explanatory video before selecting among products with FOP labels chose foods with significantly more stars than participants who saw the FOP-labeled products without the video; however, there was no significant difference in mean stars on selected products between the group that saw the videos and the control group that saw neither the video nor FOP labels. We conclude that explaining new FOP labels to consumers may be necessary for the labels to prompt more healthful choices.

Objective: This study used a daily diary approach to examine associations between day-level physical activity (PA) behavior, PA-specific motivational profile, and days since the COVID-19 national emergency declaration during the early months (April-June 2020) of the pandemic. Method: A total of 475 U.S. adults (Mage=34.9 years, 78% female) participated in a 28-day smartphone-based daily diary study assessing PA. A baseline survey assessed PA and motivation for PA using the Behavioral Regulation for Exercise Questionnaire. Multi-level linear regression models examined the main effects and interactions of motivational profile and time (days since the March 13, 2020 COVID-19 national emergency declaration) on daily PA minutes. Results: Latent Profile Analysis identified four distinct motivational profile classes for PA among this sample: Class 1) high amotivation (n=102, 21%); Class 2) low controlled motivation (n=55, 12%); Class 3) high external regulation (n=47, 10%); and Class 4) moderate autonomous motivation (n=271, 57%). After controlling for baseline PA, there were significant interactions between class and time on daily PA (-0.16, p<.01). Class 2 showed greater decreases in daily PA minutes over time than Classes 1 and 3 (b=-0.28, p<.01 and b=-0.17, p=.02, respectively). Conclusions: Contrary to previous research, individuals with lower controlled or moderate autonomous motivation demonstrated the largest decreases in PA over time, whereas individuals with higher amotivation or external regulation demonstrated smaller decreases over time. These findings suggest that external motivation may have provided short-term protection against declines in PA observed during early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Physical activity (PA) benefits health, and intensive environmental modifications can increase children’s PA. Research has not yet addressed if subtle environmental cues, such as posters depicting PA, increase child PA. In the current study, it was hypothesized that children exposed to active posters (vs. nature posters) would spend a larger proportion of free play time engaging with active toys (relative to sedentary toys). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions in which posters on a laboratory wall depicted 1. People being active, or 2. Nature scenes. Children aged 5–10 years (N = 175) could play with up to eight toys (four active, four sedentary) while parents completed study-related surveys. The proportion of playtime that was active was compared between groups. Poster type did not have a significant effect on proportion of active playtime. Previous environmental interventions that increase children’s PA have done so through enhancing access to active opportunities, rather than via signage. It is possible that poster interventions such as this may not influence children’s PA, or perhaps other types of cues would have been more effective. Future research should investigate subtle environmental cues that match both the target audience and the accessible PA options (e.g., posters depicting children playing with available active toys) and explore other low-investment environmental modifications to boost children’s PA.

Physical inactivity remains a global epidemic leading to an estimated 5 million preventable deaths per year. Although there exist numerous public-health campaigns aimed at increasing physical activity (PA), a potentially fruitful but underexplored avenue to promote both human and animal health is veterinary-prescribed PA programs. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility and acceptability of incorporating veterinary-prescribed PA programming into a diverse array of clinic settings. Participants (n = 722 veterinary-clinic staff (VS); n = 1028 dog owners (DOs)) completed an online survey assessing: (a) the perceived importance of PA for promoting health and preventing disease, (b) willingness to participate in a veterinary-prescribed PA program, and (c) potential benefits and barriers of such a program. Both groups of participants indicated that PA is important for both human and animal health (97% and 98% of VS and 92% and 93% of DOs said PA is very or extremely important for animal and human health, respectively). Additionally, most participants in both groups expressed an interest in participating in a veterinary-prescribed PA program in the future, with only 11% of DOs and 10% of VS saying they were not interested. Benefits and barriers of this type of intervention for both practitioners and patients were also identified. Incorporating veterinary-prescribed PA programming into veterinary clinics seems to be acceptable to both DOs and VS. Additionally, many VS believe such programming would be feasible at their clinics; thus, pursuing such programs appears to be a promising avenue for promoting human and animal health.

US Public Law 114–216 dictates that food producers in the United States of America will be required to label foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) starting in 2022; however, there is little empirical evidence demonstrating how U.S. consumers would use food labels that indicate the presence or absence of GMOs. The aim of this two-phase study was to determine how attitudes towards GMOs relate to food choices and how labels indicating the presence or absence of GMOs differentially impact choices among college students—the age group which values transparent food labeling more than any other. Participants (n = 434) made yes/no choices for each of 64 foods. In both phases of the study, participants were randomly assigned to seeing GMO Free labels, contains GMOs labels, or no GMO labels. Across the two phases, 85% of participants reported believing that GMOs were at least somewhat dangerous to health (42% believed GMOs to be dangerous), yet in both studies, although eye-tracking data verified that participants attended to the GMO labels, these labels did not significantly affect food choices. Although college consumers may believe GMOs to be dangerous, their food choices do not reflect this belief.