NCT05169996

Virtual Reality Effects on Food Intake Game to Decrease Food Intake

Development and Evaluation of a Virtual Reality Puzzle Game to Decrease Food Intake

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 202 (actual)
• Sponsor: Tilburg University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 30 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Aims: * The first aim was to replicate the pre-exposure effect. This was done by assessing the effect of exposing participants to a puzzle game with real foods compared to real nonfoods on food intake. * The second aim was to investigate the potential of VR for eliciting the pre-exposure effect. This was done by comparing the effect of a VR puzzle game with foods to a VR puzzle game with nonfoods on food intake. * The third aim was to assess the effect of branding in VR on brand responses and the role of emotional responses herein. This was done by comparing a branded virtual puzzle game with foods with a (non-branded) virtual puzzle game with foods. Study design: a randomized 2 (game: real vs virtual) x 2 (product: food vs non-food) between-subjects design lab experiment, the effectiveness of pre-exposure to food in a VR game is tested. A fifth condition was added ("VR x branded food") in order to examine brand effects.

Detailed description

Aim: Every day, people are exposed to a wide variety of tasty foods, which is thought to be the leading cause of overeating. However, subsequent intake is believed to decrease when individuals engage with foods outside an eating context in an unrelated task-this is called the pre-exposure effect. Thus far, this effect has only been found when tempting foods are physically present. The current study aims to examine whether the effect also occurs when hyper-realistic food is present in VR. Virtual reality (VR) provides the ultimate level of immersion, creating a sense of physical presence in the three-dimensional virtual environment. Therefore, VR has a major potential for implementation of the pre-exposure effect in an intervention and to assess the underlying psychological mechanisms. The level of immersion is also thought to increase the effects of brand exposure. Here, a VR game was developed with realistic virtual foods and it was assessed in the lab whether interaction with virtual foods decreases subsequent food intake similarly as real foods do. In addition the effects of brand exposure in VR on brand-relevant outcomes were assessed. Aims: * The first aim was to replicate the pre-exposure effect. This was done by assessing the effect of exposing participants to a puzzle game with real foods compared to real nonfoods on food intake. * The second aim was to investigate the potential of VR for eliciting the pre-exposure effect. This was done by comparing the effect of a VR puzzle game with foods to a VR puzzle game with nonfoods on food intake. * The third aim was to assess the effect of branding in VR on brand responses and the role of emotional responses herein. This was done by comparing a branded virtual puzzle game with foods with a (non-branded) virtual puzzle game with foods. Study design: In a randomized 2 (game: real vs virtual) x 2 (product: food vs non-food) between-subjects design lab experiment, the effectiveness of pre-exposure to food in a VR game is tested. A fifth condition was added ("VR x branded food") in order to examine brand effects.

Conditions

• Food Intake

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Real Food	The game was played while sitting behind a table in the lab. The task in the game was to finish a tangram puzzle. In the Real Food condition, the tangram pieces were tempting food products (i.e., pieces of chocolate). Players had to physically move the chocolate pieces with their hands and puzzle them together.
OTHER	Real Nonfood	The game was played while sitting behind a table in the lab. The task in the game was to finish a tangram puzzle. In the Real Nonfood condition, the tangram pieces were plain pieces (i.e., pieces of wood). Players had to physically move the wooden pieces with their hands and puzzle them together.
OTHER	Virtual reality Food	The game was played by wearing a VR head-mounted display (HMD VR: HTC Vive) and people could interact in the virtual environment with the hand-held controllers. The task in the game was to finish a tangram puzzle. In the Virtual Reality Food condition, the tangram pieces were tempting food products (i.e., pieces of virtual chocolate). Players had to physically move the virtual chocolate pieces with the grab button on the controller and puzzle them together.
OTHER	Virtual reality Nonfood	The game was played by wearing a VR head-mounted display (HMD VR: HTC Vive) and people could interact in the virtual environment with the hand-held controllers. The task in the game was to finish a tangram puzzle. In the Virtual Reality Nonfood condition, the tangram pieces were plain pieces (i.e., pieces of virtual wood). Players had to physically move the virtual wood pieces with the grab button on the controller and puzzle them together.
OTHER	Virtual reality Food Branded	The game was played by wearing a VR head-mounted display (HMD VR: HTC Vive) and people could interact in the virtual environment with the hand-held controllers. The task in the game was to finish a tangram puzzle. In the Virtual Reality Food condition, the tangram pieces were tempting food products (i.e., pieces of virtual chocolate). Players had to physically move the virtual chocolate pieces with the grab button on the controller and puzzle them together. In the background of the puzzle, a chocolate brand ('Milka') is shown

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-05-09
• Primary completion: 2018-09-26
• Completion: 2018-09-26
• First posted: 2021-12-27
• Last updated: 2021-12-27

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Netherlands