2.3. Procedure
eating disorder
After providing written consent, participants completed a Qualtrics survey consisting of demographic and baseline questionnaires (related to eating disorder psychopathology and disgust sensitivity). Subsequently, participants were invited to complete the VR exposure session at KCL. During their lab visit, they were individually guided to familiarise themselves with the Oculus Quest 2 headset and controllers in a quiet room and then entered one of three virtual kitchen scenarios selected at random for each participant.The use of components that increase the presence of positive emotional experiences can be beneficial for psychological treatment adjuncts [In the virtual kitchen plus pet scenario, participants entered the kitchen with a virtual pet, a pink elephant making soft gurgling noises and following the participant around the environment. In the virtual kitchen plus avatar scenario, participants were accompanied in the kitchen by a virtual avatar (they could choose between four different avatars, see After the completion of the exposure session, participants were asked to rate their disgust at the thought of eating the high-calorie or palatable foods that were shown in the virtual kitchen. Participants were debriefed and reimbursed with a GBP 20 Amazon voucher upon completing the survey and VR exposure.