Next-generation virtual consumer sensory and behaviour science: The evolving role of virtual reality eye-tracking-A...

Human-Food Interaction (HFI) research increasingly relies on precise sensory measurement. However, traditional methods often make it difficult to disentangle visual influences from multisensory integration and to reproduce context-rich eating-related conditions under controlled settings. With the emergence of Digital Sensory Science (DSS), Virtual Reality (VR) and Eye Tracking (ET) are increasingly used to study sensory and behavioural responses. Rather than functioning as a substitute for eating, VR can be treated as a perceptual-cognitive simulation tool that allows visual and contextual cues to be manipulated in order to test hypotheses related to attention, expectation, decision-making, and appetite-related processes. This review introduces a theoretical framework grounded in Neurogastronomy and Multisensory Integration. Within this perspective, virtual dining experiences are understood as perceptual simulations that engage cognitive processes relevant to flavour construction. Neurogastronomy proposes that flavour is a "neural image" constructed from multimodal inputs. VR can therefore be used to isolate visual components within this process, helping to examine how "visual flavour" shapes expectation and desire even in the absence of chemical taste. Integrating VR and ET offers a structured methodological approach for investigating visual attention and contextual modulation in food-related research, including questions that are difficult to address using traditional testing alone. Future directions include carefully validated clinical applications, such as cue-exposure paradigms for eating disorders, and the use of VR combined with ET for behavioural theory testing. Although challenges related to standardisation, multisensory limitations, and cybersickness remain, these technologies offer a promising direction for future work on the cognitive reality of eating.