Office Enterprise 2007 Virtual food causes stress

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(click to enlarge) Virtual foods leads to tension in sufferers impacted by eating disorders
Food presented in a virtual reality (VR) environment will cause the same emotional responses as real food. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Annals of General Psychiatry compared the responses of people with anorexia and bulimia, and a control group,Windows 7 Download, to the virtual and real-life snacks, suggesting that virtual foods can be used for the evaluation and treatment of consuming disorders. Alessandra Gorini from the Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy, worked with an international team of researchers to compare the effects of the exposure to real foods, virtual meals and photographs of meals in a sample of patients impacted by eating disorders. She said, "Though preliminary,Microsoft Office 2010 Product Key, our data show that virtual stimuli are as effective as real ones, and more effective than static pictures, in generating emotional responses in eating disorder patients".
The 10 anorexic, 10 bulimic and 10 control participants,Office Enterprise 2007, all women, were initially shown a series of 6 real high-calorie foods placed on a table in front of them. Their heart rate and skin conductance, as well as their psychological pressure were measured during the exposure. This process was then repeated with a slideshow of the same foods, and a VR trip into a computer-generated diner where they could interact with the virtual version of the same 6 items. The participants' level of tension was statistically identical whether in virtual reality or real exposure.
Speaking about the results,Office 2007 Key, Gorini said, "Since real and virtual exposure elicit a comparable level of stress,Office 2010 Professional, 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 individuals affected by different psychological disorders".
Source: BioMed Central