Immersive virtual eating and conditioned food responses

PubDate: November 2017

Teams: University of Canterbury

Writers: Nikita Mae B. Tuanquin

PDF: Immersive virtual eating and conditioned food responses

Abstract

The objective of this research is to explore the use of Virtual Reality (VR) on food cravings and to introduce a new technique for eliciting eating behavioral changes with the use of VR. The research is comprised of two user studies: one exploring the effects of olfactory cues and active participation in VR on food cravings, and the implementation of the proposed “Redirected Eating” (RE) technique. RE is a method of superimposing virtual visual and olfactory properties onto tracked physical food in VR. These virtual properties can be manipulated to make the users believe that the physical food that they are eating has different properties. These manipulations are then sought to be used to gradually change the food-related behavior of the user towards more healthy food choices.