Virtual Reality Effects on Food Intake Game to Decrease Food Intake

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Food Intake
• Interventions: Other: Real Nonfood; Other: Virtual reality Nonfood; Other: Real Food; Other: Virtual reality Food; Other: Virtual reality Food Branded

• Registration Number: NCT05169996
• Lead Sponsor: Tilburg University

Brief 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.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2018-05-09
• Primary Completion: 2018-09-26
• Study Completion: 2018-09-26
• Study First Submitted: 2021-11-26
• Status Verified: 2021-12
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-12-09
• Last Update Submitted: 2021-12-09
• Study First Posted: 2021-12-27
• Last Update Posted: 2021-12-27

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 202

Inclusion Criteria

• None (except for age 18-30)

Exclusion Criteria

• Peanut allergy (self-reported)

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Real Nonfood	Real Nonfood	Participants are exposed to a tangram game with puzzle pieces from wood.
Virtual reality Nonfood	Virtual reality Nonfood	Participants are exposed to a virtual reality experience with a tangram game with puzzle pieces from (virtual) wood.
Real Food	Real Food	Participants are exposed to a tangram game with puzzle pieces from chocolate.
Virtual reality Food	Virtual reality Food	Participants are exposed to a virtual reality experience with a tangram game with puzzle pieces from (virtual) chocolate.
Virtual reality Food Branded	Virtual reality Food Branded	Participants are exposed to a virtual reality experience with a tangram game with puzzle pieces from (virtual) chocolate. In the background of the puzzle, a brand is shown.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Food intake	During the lab session	Food intake (chocolates) in grams was measured by weighting the bowls of the taste test
Brand attitude	During the lab session	Brand attitude was measured using a six-item 7-point semantic differential scale ranging from 1 (i.e., 'bad', 'unappealing', 'unpleasant', 'unattractive', 'boring', 'dislike') to 7 ('good', 'appealing', 'pleasant', 'attractive', 'exciting', 'like'), with the item "Select the answers that best reflect your opinion of the chocolate brand Milka"
Purchase intention	During the lab session	Purchase intention was measured on a single-item 7-point scale ranging from 1 ('totally disagree') to 7 ('totally agree') by asking the participants to indicate how much they agreed with the statement "I am planning on buying Milka chocolate within the next seven days."

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Virtual product appeal	During the lab session	One question was asked to measure virtual product appeal: 'How appealing was the chocolate you saw while playing the game?' This questions was answered on a visual analog scale ranging from 0 ('not appealing at all') to 100 ('extremely appealing').
Emotional response	During the lab session	The self-assessment manikin (SAM) scales (Bradley \& Lang, 1994) were used for measuring emotional responses. For this self-reported measure of emotional response, participants were shown a row of five manikins per emotional dimension that differed in the level of arousal or valence they portrayed. For the scale measuring arousal, the first manikin seemed very calm, but the final one seemed very excited. Similarly, for the scale measuring valence, the first manikin seemed very sad, and the final one seemed very happy. The participants were asked to indicate their emotional state while playing the VR game on a 9-point response scale. Each odd number of the scale corresponded with one of the five manikins for arousal and valence.
Craving for virtual chocolate	During the lab session	One question was asked to measure craving for virtual chocolate: 'How much did you feel like eating the chocolate?'. This questions was answered on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 ('Not at all') to 7 ('A whole lot')
Perceived entertainment value	During the lab session	Perceived entertaining value of the game was measured using a four-item 7-point scale ranging from 1 ('totally disagree') to 7 ('totally agree') (Martí-Parreno, Aldas-Manzano, Curras-Perez, \& Sanchez-García, 2013) with the following items: 'Playing the game has been enjoyable', 'I had fun playing the game', 'Playing the game has been pleasurable ', and 'Playing the game has been exciting '.
Game difficulty	During the lab session	Game difficulty was measured using a four-item ('To what extent did you find the game easy', 'To what extent did you feel like you were making progress towards the end of the game?', 'How well do you think you performed in the game?', and 'To what extent did you find the game challenging?') 7-point scale ranging from 1 ('not at all') to 7 ('very much so').

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Amsterdam - ComLab; 🇳🇱 Amsterdam, Netherlands