Evoked sensory stimulation of the eating environment, impacts feeling of presence and food desires in an online environment

Abstract

Online food choices are often made outside a regular food environment and suffer from sensory deprivation. The present study investigated if evoked multi-sensory stimulation can drive context specific food desires in an online environment. In a randomised between subject design, participants expressed their food desire on a visual analogue scale and feeling of presence (e.g., did you feel present on a beach) on a Likert scale, whilst looking online at a picture and reading a neutral description of a sensory laboratory (control condition), looking at a photo of a beach and reading a neutral description (beach condition), or looking at a photo of a beach and reading a sensory based description (beach + ). Participants (n = 725 participants, 622 females) who saw the beach photo increased their desire for cold, but not neutral foods (p < 0.05), those who were exposed to the sensory description in addition to the photo showed a higher desire for cold foods compared to those who just saw the beach photo (p < 0.001). These effects were modulated by an increased feeling of presence and how often participants visited the beach. Participants with a higher feeling of presence showed a higher desire for cold foods (p < 0.05). Food desires of those who visited the beach often were more impacted by the evoked sensory stimulation than food desires of those who visited the beach rarely. Food desires created in an online environment can be influenced by visual, and text based evoked sensory stimulation as long as consumers' feeling of presence in is high. The results can inform public health professionals how to impact healthy food choices in an online environment.

Keywords: Consumer; Desire; Food Choice; Grounded cognition; Immersion; Liking; Online; Sensory.