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(click to enlarge) Virtual food will cause stress in patients impacted by eating disorders
Food presented in a virtual reality (VR) environment brings about the same emotional responses as real food. 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,
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The 10 anorexic, 10 bulimic and 10 control participants, 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 stress 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 tension was statistically identical whether in virtual reality or real exposure.
Speaking about the results, Gorini said, "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, and treat the emotional reactions provoked by specific stimuli in clients impacted by different psychological disorders".
Source: BioMed Central