LAUSR

Humans have an increased sense of taste and consume more food when eating together with others. This effect is called the social facilitation of eating. In recent years, social facilitation of eating has been reported to occur even without the presence of others. In this study, we examined whether social facilitation of eating can be induced when consuming a diet modified for dysphagia. Using a monitor, we set two conditions: a person-reflecting condition and a wallreflecting condition. Participants were given a gelled liquid of green tea or orange juice under each condition. The results showed that under the person-reflecting condition, the consumption of the gelled liquid was significantly larger, and participants evaluated that it was significantly easier to swallow and that the taste was significantly better. From these results, it is thought that social facilitation of eating occurred even with a diet modified for dysphagia. Because the effect was obtained using only an image captured by a web camera, it could be applied to techniques such as virtual reality (VR). The possibility of using this effect for the rehabilitation of dysphagia patients was demonstrated. In future work, we will construct a system to support the rehabilitation of dysphagia patients and provide meals with community-dwelling adults using a head-mounted display (HMD).