Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD, 21250, USA.
Department of Information Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD, 21250, USA.
Appetite. 2020 Oct 1;153:104741. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2020.104741. Epub 2020 May 20.
Emerging adulthood is a critical developmental period for examining food- and eating-related behaviors as long-term weight-related behavioral patterns are established. Virtual reality (VR) technology is a promising tool for basic and applied research on eating and food-related processes. Thus, the present study tested the validity and user perceptions of a highly immersive and realistic VR food buffet by: (1) comparing participants' food selections made in the VR buffet and a real-world (RW) food buffet cafeteria one-week apart, and (2) assessing participants' rated perceptions of their VR experience (0-100 scale). Participants comprised an ethnically diverse sample of emerging adults (N = 35, M = 20.49, SD = 2.17). Results revealed that participants' food selections in the VR and RW food buffets were significantly and positively correlated in Kcals, grams, carbohydrates, and protein (all p's < 0.05). Moreover, participants perceived that: (a) the VR buffet was natural (M = 70.97, SD = 20.92), (b) their lunch selection in the VR buffet represented a lunch they would select on an average day (M = 84.11, SD = 15.92); and (c) their selection represented a lunch they would select if the same foods were available (M = 91.29, SD = 11.00). Our findings demonstrated the validity and acceptability of our highly immersive and realistic VR buffet for assessing food selection that is generalizable to RW food settings one-week apart without precisely matched foods. The findings of this study support the utility of VR as a validated tool for research on psychological and behavioral food-related processes and training interventions among emerging adults.
成年初显期是考察与食物和饮食相关行为的关键发展阶段，因为长期的与体重相关的行为模式就是在此期间建立的。虚拟现实 (VR) 技术是研究饮食和食物相关过程的基础和应用研究的有前途的工具。因此，本研究通过以下两种方法测试了高度沉浸式和逼真的 VR 自助餐的有效性和用户感知：（1）比较参与者在 VR 自助餐和现实世界 (RW) 自助餐厅中相隔一周做出的食物选择；（2）评估参与者对其 VR 体验的评分感知（0-100 分）。参与者由不同种族的成年初显期样本组成（N=35，M=20.49，SD=2.17）。结果表明，参与者在 VR 和 RW 自助餐中的食物选择在千卡、克、碳水化合物和蛋白质方面呈显著正相关（所有 p 值均<0.05）。此外，参与者认为：(a) VR 自助餐很自然（M=70.97，SD=20.92）；(b) 他们在 VR 自助餐中的午餐选择代表了他们在平均日会选择的午餐（M=84.11，SD=15.92）；(c) 他们的选择代表了如果有相同的食物可用，他们会选择的午餐（M=91.29，SD=11.00）。我们的研究结果证明了我们高度沉浸式和逼真的 VR 自助餐在评估与食物选择相关的有效性和可接受性，这种选择可以推广到 RW 食品环境中，相隔一周而无需精确匹配的食物。这项研究的结果支持 VR 作为一种经过验证的工具，用于研究成年初显期的心理和行为相关食物过程以及培训干预措施。
