Virtual Reality Effects on Food Intake Game to Decrease Food Intake

NCT ID: NCT05169996

Last Updated: 2021-12-27

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 202 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2018-05-09
• Study Completion Date: 2018-09-26

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.

Conditions

Food Intake

Keywords

virtual reality; pre-exposure; food cravings

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Real Food

Participants are exposed to a tangram game with puzzle pieces from chocolate.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Real Food

Intervention Type: OTHER

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.

Real Nonfood

Participants are exposed to a tangram game with puzzle pieces from wood.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Real Nonfood

Intervention Type: OTHER

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.

Virtual reality Food

Participants are exposed to a virtual reality experience with a tangram game with puzzle pieces from (virtual) chocolate.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Virtual reality Food

Intervention Type: OTHER

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.

Virtual reality Nonfood

Participants are exposed to a virtual reality experience with a tangram game with puzzle pieces from (virtual) wood.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Virtual reality Nonfood

Intervention Type: OTHER

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.

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.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Virtual reality Food Branded

Intervention Type: OTHER

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

Interventions

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.

Intervention Type: 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.

Intervention Type: 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.

Intervention Type: 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.

Intervention Type: 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

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• None (except for age 18-30)

Exclusion Criteria

• Peanut allergy (self-reported)

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 30 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Tilburg University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Laura Nynke van der Laan

Associate professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Laura Nynke Laura Nynke, Dr. Ir.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Tilburg University

Locations

University of Amsterdam - ComLab

Amsterdam, , Netherlands

Countries

Netherlands

References

Liu Y, Stamos A, Dewitte S, van Berlo ZMC, van der Laan LN. Development and Evaluation of a Virtual Reality Puzzle Game to Decrease Food Intake: Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Serious Games. 2022 Feb 3;10(1):e31747. doi: 10.2196/31747.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 35113028 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

2018-PC-9033

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id