Shaping health behaviors beyond reality: A full body illusion to experience the consequences of unhealthy snacking

Addressing the rising obesity prevalence, a Virtual Reality full-body illusion as a novel approach to obesity prevention is examined, allowing individuals to experience ownership of a virtual body (VBO). Although never tested, an immersive experience of a virtual self that suffers from the consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle, like an overweight body, may motivate health behaviors to avoid these consequences. Hence, the study aimed to investigate 1) whether experiencing the consequences of unhealthy snacking could increase healthy snacking intentions and -intake; 2) perceived threat as potential mechanisms of this effect; and 3) potential facilitators and inhibitors of VBO (i.e., avatar body size, visuotactile stimulation/VTS and facial similarity), and whether these factors could enhance effects on perceived threat, healthy snacking intentions and -intake. Employing a 2 (Experiencing consequences: yes vs. no) ×2 (VTS: congruent vs. incongruent) ×2 (Facial similarity: similar vs. generic) between-subjects design (N = 229), findings revealed that experiencing consequences increased individuals’ healthy snacking intentions and healthy snack intake, but only through perceived severity. Furthermore, embodying an overweight avatar inhibited VBO, while congruent VTS facilitated VBO. The study provides valuable insights into the Virtual Reality experiences, paving the way for innovative research avenues in health communication and behavior change tools.