PROJECT SUMMARY This Mentored Research Scientist Development (K01) Award will support my long-term goal of becoming an independent investigator who specializes in examining the techniques food companies use to market unhealthy products to Black communities, with a specific focus on advanced digital technologies, such as virtual reality (VR). Food marketing has been unequivocally linked to poor diet and risk of excessive weight gain in young people. Food companies disproportionately target Black consumers with more advertisements (“ads”) and the least healthy ads, contributing to nutritional disparities and nutrition-related diseases. To expand their reach, food companies have developed VR marketing experiences that are engaging, highly sophisticated, and may more powerfully elicit biological signals precipitating a motivation to consume foods. Although most food marketing studies focus on children and adolescents due to their inability to recognize persuasive intent, Black young adults may be especially vulnerable to the effects of food marketing exposure due to being highly targeted, shifts during this developmental period, and food/nutritional insecurity. No study has examined the effect of VR food marketing exposure on biological signal activation and purchase intention among Black young adults, or the interactions with food/nutritional insecurity. To address these gaps, I have developed the following specific aims/hypotheses. Aim 1 will be to determine the extent to which VR food marketing influences purchase intention and whether effects are more pronounced in Black young adults. I hypothesize that exposure to VR food marketing will influence purchase intention versus the VR non-food control, and Black (versus white young adults) exposed to VR food marketing will demonstrate higher purchase intention. Aim 2 will be to understand the influence of biological signal activation on the relationship between VR food marketing and purchase intention. I hypothesize that larger electrodermal amplitude and higher salivary reactivity will lead to stronger purchase intention in those randomized to VR food marketing versus the control and that the effects will be more pronounced among those with higher weight. Aim 3 will be to explore the interactions among race/ethnicity, food/nutritional insecurity, biological signal activation, and purchase intention among Black young adults exposed to VR food marketing. I hypothesize that those reporting low/very low food security will demonstrate stronger electrodermal amplitude and higher salivary reactivity when exposed to the VR food marketing condition versus all others. I will develop a community-based young adult advisory board to assist with interpretation of the results. It will be necessary to obtain mentorship and training in VR, integrating biological measurements into an experimental paradigm, and applied statistical analyses for biological outcomes to complete this project and develop the critical resear...