Associate Professor in Developmental Psychology at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
I am specializing in adolescent emotional development, emotion regulation, dynamic systems, state space grids, observational methods, and psychophysiology. PI on studies of MindLight in Canada.. Currently I am working on rectifying process and strategy accounts of emotion regulation, concordance across appraisal, expressive, and physiological arousal during emotion, testing the social baseline hypothesis of adolescence, the impact of mindsets on socioemotional functioning, and nested time scales of real-time emotions within day-to-day functioning across developmental time. My interest in gaming is as a research tool to tap into theorized mechanisms of emotion regulation, and of course to improve children's lives.
This project explores the potential of using biofeedback video games for anxiety regulation. Specifically, the projects aims to 1) develop and assessing the efficacy of the biofeedback game DEEP, a breath-based biofeedback video game, as an anxiety regulation tool and 2) identify possible determinants of change in biofeedback interventions for anxiety regulation.
Many children have difficulties with fearful situations and are anxious. Interventions can help to teach children to cope effectively with anxiety-inducing situations. In our project, we rigorously tested whether an intervention in the form of a video game (MindLight) is effective in significantly reducing anxiety symptoms in children 8-12 years old. We did this by comparing MindLight to 1) a commercial game and 2) the gold-standard, cognitive-behavioural therapy for anxiety (Coping Cat). Furthermore, we evaluated the motivational characteristics of MindLight and for whom (e.g., age and gender differences) it is effective.
More and more games are designed to promote mental health. If these games are found to be effective, it is important to investigate which factors are responsible for the improvements in mental health. Most often, this type of research focuses on the specific clinical techniques that were designed into the game. However, from the clinical literature it is known that, for instance, expectations, motivation, and one’s mindset about the malleability of symptoms play a major role in positive intervention outcomes. In my project I aim to investigate these nonspecific factors and examine how we can manipulate these factors in order to optimize video games for mental health.
RT @Gryphire: New tiny @GEMH_Lab blog online about the new @APA journal "Technology, Mind, and Behavior"! Thanks to @PlayNiceInst, and @b…
RT @PlayNiceInst: We’re hiring @GEMH_Lab . See below. RTs super appreciated (@briecode @unthank @GrowingUpGaming @whatstheii @TheAnnaGat )…
RT @PlayNiceInst: Super excited to participate on the Technology, Mind, & Behavior panel w/ my esteemed colleagues. Attend the symposium fo…
RT @PlayNiceInst: New study just out! MindLight, our neurofeedback video game that @GEMH_Lab showed works as well as cognitive-behavioural…
RT @Gryphire: @PlayNiceInst @RobertHaisfield @GEMH_Lab As researchers, we are uniquely equipped to provide the user with organised and cohe…
RT @PlayNiceInst: @RobertHaisfield We think about this a lot, but start from the human psychology, not the app side, and build out from the…
Fantastic paper, @Gryphire @PlayNiceInst @GEMH_Lab! You wrote paper I wanted to read but thought I had to write… https://t.co/wlprYxXiXF
Fantastic paper, @Gryphire @PlayNiceInst @GEMH_Lab ! You wrote paper I wanted to read but thought I had to write… https://t.co/B3qVFiLfVE
RT @PlayNiceInst: We’re diving much deeper into our next set of studies on tech for emotional & mental health in @GEMH_Lab, applying a set…
RT @AniekWols: Why should we hide it? "Video games aiming to improve mental health may benefit from promoting the game’s mental health ben…
Bossenbroek, R., Wols, A., Weerdmeester, J., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., Granic, I., & van Rooij, M. (2020). JMIR Mental Health, 7(3), e16066. http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/16066
Author: Aniek Wols
Upload date: 03-24-2020
Weerdmeester, J., van Rooij, M. M., Engels, R. C., & Granic, I. (2020). Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(7), e14958.
Author: Joanneke Weerdmeester
Upload date: 07-23-2020
Weerdmeester, J., van Rooij, M., Harris, O., Smit, N., Engels, R. C., & Granic, I. (2017, October). Exploring the role of self-efficacy in biofeedback video games. In Extended Abstracts Publication of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (pp. 453-461). ACM.
Author: Joanneke Weerdmeester
Upload date: 10-15-2017
Anxiety disorders are among the most frequently diagnosed mental health problems in children, leading to potentially devastating outcomes on a personal level and high costs for society. Although evidence-based interventions are readily available, their outcomes are often disappointing and variable. In particular, existing interventions are not effective long-term nor tailored to differences in individual responsiveness. We therefore need a new approach to the prevention and treatment of anxiety in children and a commensurate scientific methodology to uncover individual profiles of change. We argue that applied games have a great deal of potential for both. The current paper presents results from a recent pilot study using a biofeedback virtual reality game (DEEP). DEEP integrates established therapeutic principles with an embodied and intuitive learning process towards improved anxiety regulation skills.
Author: Marieke van Rooij
Upload date: 10-10-2016
Schoneveld, E. A., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2019). What keeps them motivated? Children’s views on an applied game for anxiety. Entertainment Computing, 29, 69-74.
Author: Elke Schoneveld
Upload date: 03-01-2019
Schoneveld, E. A. (2019). Childhood anxiety prevention: An evaluation of the applied game MindLight (Doctoral dissertation)
Author: Elke Schoneveld
Upload date: 02-26-2019
Schoneveld, E.A., Wols, A., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., Otten, R., & Granic I. (2020). Journal of Child and Family Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01728-y
Author: Aniek Wols
Upload date: 06-24-2020
Schoneveld, E. A., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2017). Prevention Science, 1-13.
Author: Elke Schoneveld
Upload date: 09-27-2017
Schoneveld, E. A., Malmberg, M., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., Verheijen, G. P., Engels, R. C., & Granic, I. (2016). Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 321-333.
Author: Elke Schoneveld
Upload date: 10-01-2016
Poppelaars, M., Wols, A., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2018). Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01837
Author: Marlou Poppelaars
Upload date: 09-10-2018
Wols, A., Hollenstein, T., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2019). https://osf.io/6gmwv
Author: Aniek Wols
Upload date: 07-05-2019
Wols, A., Poppelaars, M., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., & Granic, I. (2020). Entertainment Computing, 100371.
Author: Aniek Wols
Upload date: 07-07-2020