Virtual Reality Effects on Food Intake Game to Decrease Food Intake

Sponsor
Tilburg University (Other)
Overall Status
Completed
CT.gov ID
NCT05169996
Collaborator
(none)
202
1
5
4.6
43.9

Study Details

Study Description

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.

Condition or Disease Intervention/Treatment Phase
  • Other: Real Food
  • Other: Real Nonfood
  • Other: Virtual reality Food
  • Other: Virtual reality Nonfood
  • Other: Virtual reality Food Branded
N/A

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 Design

Study Type:
Interventional
Actual Enrollment :
202 participants
Allocation:
Randomized
Intervention Model:
Parallel Assignment
Intervention Model Description:
In a 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.In a 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.
Masking:
Single (Participant)
Masking Description:
Participants were not informed about in which arm of the study they were allocated.
Primary Purpose:
Prevention
Official Title:
Development and Evaluation of a Virtual Reality Puzzle Game to Decrease Food Intake
Actual Study Start Date :
May 9, 2018
Actual Primary Completion Date :
Sep 26, 2018
Actual Study Completion Date :
Sep 26, 2018

Arms and Interventions

Arm Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Real Food

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

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.

Experimental: Real Nonfood

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

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.

Experimental: Virtual reality Food

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

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.

Experimental: Virtual reality Nonfood

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

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.

Experimental: 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.

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

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

  1. Food intake [During the lab session]

    Food intake (chocolates) in grams was measured by weighting the bowls of the taste test

  2. 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"

  3. 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

  1. 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').

  2. 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')

  3. 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.

  4. 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 '.

  5. 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').

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:
18 Years to 30 Years
Sexes Eligible for Study:
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Yes
Inclusion Criteria:
  • None (except for age 18-30)
Exclusion Criteria:
  • Peanut allergy (self-reported)

Contacts and Locations

Locations

Site City State Country Postal Code
1 University of Amsterdam - ComLab Amsterdam Netherlands

Sponsors and Collaborators

  • Tilburg University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Laura Nynke Laura Nynke, Dr. Ir., Tilburg University

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.
Responsible Party:
Laura Nynke van der Laan, Associate professor, Tilburg University
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
NCT05169996
Other Study ID Numbers:
  • 2018-PC-9033
First Posted:
Dec 27, 2021
Last Update Posted:
Dec 27, 2021
Last Verified:
Dec 1, 2021
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:
No
Plan to Share IPD:
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product:
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product:
No
Keywords provided by Laura Nynke van der Laan, Associate professor, Tilburg University

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Dec 27, 2021