Physiological and Neurocognitive Responses to Multisensory Food Cues in VR

This study aims to investigate how food cravings change when visual food cues are enriched with sound, smell, and interactive experiences in a virtual reality (VR) environment. A total of 34 healthy Marmara University students aged 18 and older will participate in the study between November 2025 and March 2026, with a possible extension until September 2026. Participants will be exposed to real, virtual, and multisensory food cues, and their food craving levels, saliva composition, blood glucose, EEG activity, and body temperature will be measured. Salivary alpha-amylase will be analysed as a biomarker of physiological arousal during food cue exposure. The study aims to compare how virtual food cues affect food craving and physiological responses compared to real food cues. Findings are expected to contribute to understanding eating behaviour, developing VR-based interventions for healthy nutrition, and encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration between nutrition and engineering fields.