scholarly journals Faster Grasping of High-Calorie Food Objects in Virtual Reality

Author(s):  
Philipp A Schroeder ◽  
Enrico Collantoni ◽  
Johannes Lohmann ◽  
Martin V Butz ◽  
Christian Plewnia

Abstract Purpose: Attractive food elicits approaching behavior, which could be directly assessed in a combination of Virtual Reality (VR) with online motion-capture. Thus, VR enables the assessment of motivated approach and avoidance behavior towards food and non-food cues in controlled laboratory environments. Aim of this study was to test the specificity of a behavioral 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 tools. Methods: In a VR setting, healthy participants 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. Results: High-calorie food was less attractive and more arousing in subjective ratings than low-calorie food and neutral objects. Responses to high-calorie food were fastest only in grasp trials, but comparisons with low-calorie food and complex tools were inconclusive. Conclusion: A behavioral bias for food may be specific to high-calorie food objects, but more systematic variations of object fidelity are outstanding. The utility of VR in assessing approach behavior is confirmed in this study by exploring manual interactions in a controlled environment.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Jones ◽  
Shan Luo ◽  
Hilary M. Dorton ◽  
Alexandra G. Yunker ◽  
Brendan Angelo ◽  
...  

It has been hypothesized that the incretin hormone, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), decreases overeating by influencing mesolimbic brain regions that process food-cues, including the dorsal striatum. We previously showed that habitual added sugar intake was associated with lower glucose-induced circulating GLP-1 and a greater striatal response to high calorie food cues in lean individuals. Less is known about how dietary added sugar and obesity may interact to affect postprandial GLP-1 and its relationship to striatal responses to food cues and feeding behavior. The current study aimed to expand upon previous research by assessing how circulating GLP-1 and striatal food cue reactivity are affected by acute glucose consumption in participants with varied BMIs and amounts of habitual consumption of added sugar. This analysis included 72 participants from the Brain Response to Sugar Study who completed two study visits where they consumed either plain water or 75g glucose dissolved in water (order randomized; both drinks were flavored with non-caloric cherry flavoring) and underwent repeated blood sampling, a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) based food-cue task, and an ad-libitum buffet meal. Correlations between circulating GLP-1 levels, striatal food-cue reactivity, and food intake were assessed, and interactions between obesity and added sugar on GLP-1 and striatal responses were examined. An interaction between BMI and dietary added sugar was associated with reduced post-glucose GLP-1 secretion. Participants who were obese and consumed high levels of added sugar had the smallest increase in plasma GLP-1 levels. Glucose-induced GLP-1 secretion was correlated with lower dorsal striatal reactivity to high-calorie versus low-calorie food-cues, driven by an increase in reactivity to low calorie food-cues. The increase in dorsal striatal reactivity to low calorie food-cues was negatively correlated with sugar consumed at the buffet. These findings suggest that an interaction between obesity and dietary added sugar intake is associated with additive reductions in postprandial GLP-1 secretion. Additionally, the results suggest that changes to dorsal striatal food cue reactivity through a combination of dietary added sugar and obesity may affect food consumption.


Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirrilly M. Pursey ◽  
Oren Contreras-Rodriguez ◽  
Clare E. Collins ◽  
Peter Stanwell ◽  
Tracy L. Burrows

Few studies have investigated the underlying neural substrates of food addiction (FA) in humans using a recognised assessment tool. In addition, no studies have investigated subregions of the amygdala (basolateral (BLA) and central amygdala), which have been linked to reward-seeking behaviours, susceptibility to weight gain, and promoting appetitive behaviours, in the context of FA. This pilot study aimed to explore the association between FA symptoms and activation in the BLA and central amygdala via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in response to visual food cues in fasted and fed states. Females (n = 12) aged 18–35 years completed two fMRI scans (fasted and fed) while viewing high-calorie food images and low-calorie food images. Food addiction symptoms were assessed using the Yale Food Addiction Scale. Associations between FA symptoms and activation of the BLA and central amygdala were tested using bilateral masks and small-volume correction procedures in multiple regression models, controlling for BMI. Participants were 24.1 ± 2.6 years, with mean BMI of 27.4 ± 5.0 kg/m2 and FA symptom score of 4.1 ± 2.2. A significant positive association was identified between FA symptoms and higher activation of the left BLA to high-calorie versus low-calorie foods in the fasted session, but not the fed session. There were no significant associations with the central amygdala in either session. This exploratory study provides pilot data to inform future studies investigating the neural mechanisms underlying FA.


2016 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 2656-2662 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Fusaro ◽  
G. Tieri ◽  
S. M. Aglioti

Studies have explored behavioral and neural responses to the observation of pain in others. However, much less is known about how taking a physical perspective influences reactivity to the observation of others' pain and pleasure. To explore this issue we devised a novel paradigm in which 24 healthy participants immersed in a virtual reality scenario observed a virtual: needle penetrating (pain), caress (pleasure), or ball touching (neutral) the hand of an avatar seen from a first (1PP)- or a third (3PP)-person perspective. Subjective ratings and physiological responses [skin conductance responses (SCR) and heart rate (HR)] were collected in each trial. All participants reported strong feelings of ownership of the virtual hand only in 1PP. Subjective measures also showed that pain and pleasure were experienced as more salient than neutral. SCR analysis demonstrated higher reactivity in 1PP than in 3PP. Importantly, vicarious pain induced stronger responses with respect to the other conditions in both perspectives. HR analysis revealed equally lower activity during pain and pleasure with respect to neutral. SCR may reflect egocentric perspective, and HR may merely index general arousal. The results suggest that behavioral and physiological indexes of reactivity to seeing others' pain and pleasure were qualitatively similar in 1PP and 3PP. Our paradigm indicates that virtual reality can be used to study vicarious sensation of pain and pleasure without actually delivering any stimulus to participants' real body and to explore behavioral and physiological reactivity when they observe pain and pleasure from ego- and allocentric perspectives.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0242416
Author(s):  
Salomé Le Franc ◽  
Mathis Fleury ◽  
Mélanie Cogne ◽  
Simon Butet ◽  
Christian Barillot ◽  
...  

Introduction Illusion of movement induced by tendon vibration is an effective approach for motor and sensory rehabilitation in case of neurological impairments. The aim of our study was to investigate which modality of visual feedback in Virtual Reality (VR) associated with tendon vibration of the wrist could induce the best illusion of movement. Methods We included 30 healthy participants in the experiment. Tendon vibration inducing illusion of movement (wrist extension, 100Hz) was applied on their wrist during 3 VR visual conditions (10 times each): a moving virtual hand corresponding to the movement that the participants could feel during the tendon vibration (Moving condition), a static virtual hand (Static condition), or no virtual hand at all (Hidden condition). After each trial, the participants had to quantify the intensity of the illusory movement on a Likert scale, the subjective degree of extension of their wrist and afterwards they answered a questionnaire. Results There was a significant difference between the 3 visual feedback conditions concerning the Likert scale ranking and the degree of wrist’s extension (p<0.001). The Moving condition induced a higher intensity of illusion of movement and a higher sensation of wrist’s extension than the Hidden condition (p<0.001 and p<0.001 respectively) than that of the Static condition (p<0.001 and p<0.001 respectively). The Hidden condition also induced a higher intensity of illusion of movement and a higher sensation of wrist’s extension than the Static condition (p<0.01 and p<0.01 respectively). The preferred condition to facilitate movement’s illusion was the Moving condition (63.3%). Conclusions This study demonstrated the importance of carefully selecting a visual feedback to improve the illusion of movement induced by tendon vibration, and the increase of illusion by adding VR visual cues congruent to the illusion of movement. Further work will consist in testing the same hypothesis with stroke patients.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 147-152
Author(s):  
G. L. KRASNYANSKY ◽  
◽  
A. E. SARYCHEV ◽  

The article highlights the changes in the global thermal coal market associated with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, examines the dynamics of import volumes by key countries - consumers of thermal coal and export volumes by major exporting countries, as well as price changes in the main international markets. Analysis of changes in the global steam coal market caused by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and a number of other objective factors demonstrates a change in the competitive positions of the largest exporting countries, which may have long-term consequences. In addition, the article examines the continuing trend of dividing the thermal coal market into the high-calorie and low-calorie thermal coal markets, which have multidirectional development prospects.


2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (01) ◽  
pp. 79-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Vourvopoulos ◽  
A. Bernardino ◽  
i Bermúdez Badia ◽  
J. Alves

Summary Introduction: This article is part of the Focus Theme of Methods of Information in Medicine on “Methodologies, Models and Algorithms for Patients Rehabilitation”. Objective: Identify eye gaze correlates of motor impairment in a virtual reality motor observation task in a study with healthy participants and stroke patients. Methods: Participants consisted of a group of healthy subjects (N = 20) and a group of stroke survivors (N = 10). Both groups were required to observe a simple reach-and-grab and place-and-release task in a virtual environment. Additionally, healthy subjects were required to observe the task in a normal condition and a constrained movement condition. Eye movements were recorded during the observation task for later analysis. Results: For healthy participants, results showed differences in gaze metrics when comparing the normal and arm-constrained conditions. Differences in gaze metrics were also found when comparing dominant and non-dominant arm for saccades and smooth pursuit events. For stroke patients, results showed longer smooth pursuit segments in action observation when observing the paretic arm, thus providing evidence that the affected circuitry may be activated for eye gaze control during observation of the simulated motor action. Conclusions: This study suggests that neural motor circuits are involved, at multiple levels, in observation of motor actions displayed in a virtual reality environment. Thus, eye tracking combined with action observation tasks in a virtual reality display can be used to monitor motor deficits derived from stroke, and consequently can also be used for re -habilitation of stroke patients.


SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402090207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianguo Wang ◽  
Jianming Wang ◽  
Jian Gao

Based on the theory of consumer values, this study aimed to examine the relationship between green consumption values and pro-environmental consumption intention by establishing a “value-motivation-intention” model and to check the moderation effect of green involvement. In total, 741 shoppers were recruited. Data analyses showed that (a) green consumption values positively influenced pro-environmental consumption intention; (b) the behavioral approach system positively influenced pro-environmental consumption intention, but the behavioral inhibition system did not; (c) the behavioral approach system positively mediated the relationship between green consumption values and pro-environmental consumption intention; and (d) green involvement positively moderated the relationship between green consumption values and pro-environmental consumption intention.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Hu ◽  
Gang Ji ◽  
Guanya Li ◽  
Peter Manza ◽  
Wenchao Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract The biological mediators that support cognitive-control and long-term weight-loss after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) remain unclear. We measured peripheral appetitive hormones and brain functional-connectivity (FC) using magnetic-resonance-imaging with food cue-reactivity task in 25 obese participants at pre, 1 month, and 6 month after LSG, and compared with 30 normal weight controls. We also used diffusion-tensor-imaging to explore whether LSG increases brain structural-connectivity (SC) of regions involved in food cue-reactivity. LSG significantly decreased BMI, craving for high-calorie food cues, ghrelin, insulin, and leptin levels, and increased self-reported cognitive-control of eating behavior. LSG increased FC between the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC) and increased SC between DLPFC and ACC at 1 month and 6 month after LSG. Reduction in BMI correlated negatively with increased FC of right DLPFC-pgACC at 1 month and with increased SC of DLPFC-ACC at 1 month and 6 month after LSG. Reduction in craving for high-calorie food cues correlated negatively with increased FC of DLPFC-pgACC at 6 month after LSG. Additionally, SC of DLPFC-ACC mediated the relationship between lower ghrelin levels and greater cognitive control. These findings provide evidence that LSG improved functional and structural connectivity in prefrontal regions, which contribute to enhanced cognitive-control and sustained weight-loss following surgery.


Appetite ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 116 ◽  
pp. 306-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selin Neseliler ◽  
Beth Tannenbaum ◽  
Maria Zacchia ◽  
Kevin Larcher ◽  
Kirsty Coulter ◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document