Play & (Mental) Health

Play & (Mental) Health investigates how play activities support (mental) health and wellbeing. Particularly, we perform research at the intersection of human-computer interaction, psychology, and artificial intelligence, focusing on five research topics: (1) Play & Self-Disclosure, (2) Play & Social Anxiety, (3) Play & Experiencing Failure, (4) Play & Eye Gaze, (5) Play & Stress Resilience. The research is carried out in the Play Lab – hosting among others two modern pinball machines – and is chaired by Dr. Sander Bakkes.

Pinball Research at School

Utrecht University performed play experiments at Basisschool De Odyssee (Utrecht) to understand the positive effects of playing for children. To what extent does playing together promote self-disclosure? Specifically, the researchers were interested in to what extent playing together creates feelings of safety and social connectedness for children, and to what extent those feelings promote self-disclosure,

dr. Sander Bakkes
14-02-2025 // Insights, News // Play Research, Player Research and Psychology