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(click on to enlarge) Virtual foods causes anxiety in individuals impacted by eating disorders
Food presented in a virtual reality (VR) environment brings about the same emotional responses as real foods. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Annals of General Psychiatry compared the responses of people with anorexia and bulimia, and a control group, to the virtual and real-life snacks, suggesting that virtual food can be used for the evaluation and treatment of consuming disorders. Alessandra Gorini from the Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy, worked with an international team of researchers to compare the effects of the exposure to real meals, virtual food and photographs of food in a sample of patients impacted by eating disorders. She said, "Though preliminary, our data show that virtual stimuli are as effective as real ones,
Microsoft Office 2010 Serial, and more effective than static pictures, in generating emotional responses in consuming disorder patients".
The 10 anorexic, 10 bulimic and 10 control participants,
Office Professional Plus 2007 Key, all women, were initially shown a series of 6 real high-calorie foods placed on a table in front of them. Their heart rate and skin conductance, as well as their psychological pressure were measured during the exposure. This process was then repeated with a slideshow of the same foods, and a VR trip into a computer-generated diner where they could interact with the virtual version of the same 6 items. The participants' level of stress was statistically identical whether in virtual reality or real exposure.
Speaking about the results, Gorini said,
office professional 2010 x86, "Since real and virtual exposure elicit a comparable level of tension, higher than the one elicited by static pictures, we may eventually see VR being used to screen, evaluate,
Office Enterprise 2007 Product Key, and treat the emotional reactions provoked by specific stimuli in sufferers affected by different psychological disorders".
Source: BioMed Central