Virtual Food as Stressful as Real Snacks

I reported earlier today about using augmented cockroaches to treat insect phobia. Now another piece of research shows similar positive results for patients with eating disorders.

The report, published in the Annals of General Society, looked at the responses of patients with eating disorders to real food, photographs of food and the same food in a virtual reality (vr) “diner”. Heart rate, skin conductance and various psychological stress factors were measured on exposure.

Real and virtual food provoked higher levels of response than mere photographs. In fact the responses to real food and the same food in VR were “statistically identical”.

Researcher Alessandra Gorini said:

Since real and virtual exposure elicit a comparable level of stress, 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 patients affected by different psychological disorders