Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Schleichstr. 4, Tübingen 72076, Germany; German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Germany.
Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, Italy; Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Italy.
Behav Brain Res. 2024 Aug 5;471:115096. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2024.115096. Epub 2024 Jun 5.
Theoretical models and behavioural studies indicate faster approach behaviour for high-calorie food (approach bias) among healthy participants. A previous study with Virtual Reality (VR) and online motion-capture quantified this approach bias towards food and non-food cues in a controlled VR environment with hand movements. The aim of this study was to test the specificity of a manual approach bias for high-calorie food in grasp movements compared to low-calorie food and neutral objects of different complexity, namely, simple balls and geometrically more complex office tools.
In a VR setting, healthy participants (N = 27) repeatedly grasped or pushed high-calorie food, low-calorie food, balls and office tools in randomized order with 30 item repetitions. All objects were rated for valence and arousal.
High-calorie food was less attractive and more arousing in subjective ratings than low-calorie food and neutral objects. Movement onset was faster for high-calorie food in push-trials, but overall push responses were comparable. In contrast, responses to high-calorie food relative to low-calorie food and to control objects were faster in grasp trials for later stages of interaction (grasp and collect). Non-parametric tests confirmed an approach bias for high-calorie food.
A behavioural bias for food was specific to high-calorie food objects. The results confirm the presence of bottom-up advantages in motor-cognitive behaviour for high-calorie food in a non-clinical population. More systematic variations of object fidelity and in clinical populations are outstanding. The utility of VR in assessing approach behaviour is confirmed in this study by exploring manual interactions in a controlled environment.
理论模型和行为研究表明，健康参与者对高热量食物（接近偏差）的接近行为更快。之前一项使用虚拟现实（VR）和在线运动捕捉的研究，在手运动的受控 VR 环境中量化了这种对食物和非食物线索的接近偏差。本研究的目的是测试与低热量食物和不同复杂性的中性物体（即简单的球和几何上更复杂的办公工具）相比，手动接近高热量食物的特异性。
在 VR 设置中，健康参与者（N=27）以随机顺序用 30 个项目重复抓取或推动高热量食物、低热量食物、球和办公工具。所有物体的效价和唤醒度均进行了评分。
高热量食物在主观评分中比低热量食物和中性物体的吸引力更小，唤醒度更高。在推试验中，高热量食物的运动起始更快，但总体推反应相当。相比之下，在抓取试验中，相对于低热量食物和对照物体，高热量食物的反应在交互的后期阶段（抓取和收集）更快。非参数检验证实了对高热量食物的接近偏差。
对食物的行为偏差是高热量食物的特定现象。结果证实了在非临床人群中，高热量食物在运动认知行为中存在自下而上的优势。对象保真度的更系统变化和在临床人群中的应用是突出的。本研究通过在受控环境中探索手动交互，证实了 VR 在评估接近行为中的效用。
