Previous work on combining Virtual Reality (VR) and visual cue-exposure therapy has shown promising results that suggest its potential as a tool to support treatments for eating disorders. Visual food cues can elicit cravings in people no matter where they get their exposure from (e.g., photograph, real world, or virtual world). However, there is little work on the influence of olfactory stimuli in VR. Consequently, we investigated the effects of olfactory stimuli and VR on food cravings. In particular, we examined the hypothesis that olfactory and interaction with food in VR can further increase food cravings. The results of this study show that VR can elicit similar effects as exposure to traditional cues when compared to a neutral baseline. Furthermore, the added olfactory cues increased food cravings and the urge to eat the presented food, which also increased when participants were allowed to interact with the virtual food. In conclusion, VR was shown to have considerable potential to be a valid alternative to traditional food-exposure interventions.

The objective of this research is to explore the use of Virtual Reality (VR) on food cravings and to introduce a new technique for eliciting eating behavioral changes with the use of VR. The research is comprised of two user studies: one exploring the effects of olfactory cues and active participation in VR on food cravings, and the implementation of the proposed “Redirected Eating” (RE) technique. RE is a method of superimposing virtual visual and olfactory properties onto tracked physical food in VR. These virtual properties can be manipulated to make the users believe that the physical food that they are eating has different properties. These manipulations are then sought to be used to gradually change the food-related behavior of the user towards more healthy food choices.