It will surprise you to know that virtual reality can alter how you perceive food. According to a study conducted recently, that environment plays a critical part in our eating experience. While humans relish the sweet, savoury and saltiness of foods, the environment too plays a huge role in how we perceive food.
Published in the Journal of Food Science, this study explains how exactly virtual reality can alter people's perceptions when it comes to what they eat. "When we eat, we perceive not only just the taste and aroma of foods, we get sensory input from our surroundings - our eyes, ears, even our memories about surroundings," said Robin Dando, an associate professor at Cornell University in the US. Post conducting the research, Dando claims that the environment is a critical part of the eating experience.
"We consume foods in surroundings that can spill over into our perceptions of the food," said Dando. This kind of testing offers advantages of convenience and flexibility, compared to building physical environments, researchers said. "This research validates that virtual reality can be used, as it provides an immersive environment for testing. Visually, virtual reality imparts qualities of the environment itself to the food being consumed -- making this kind of testing cost-efficient," said Dando.
