Dataset Information

Beyond sensory conflict: The role of beliefs and perception in motion sickness.

ABSTRACT: Illusory self-motion often provokes motion sickness, which is commonly explained in terms of an inter-sensory conflict that is not in accordance with previous experience. Here we address the influence of cognition in motion sickness and show that such a conflict is not provocative when the observer believes that the motion illusion is indeed actually occurring. Illusory self-motion and motion sickness were elicited in healthy human participants who were seated on a stationary rotary chair inside a rotating optokinetic drum. Participants knew that both chair and drum could rotate but were unaware of the actual motion stimulus. Results showed that motion sickness was correlated with the discrepancy between participants' perceived self-motion and participants' beliefs about the actual motion. Together with the general motion sickness susceptibility, this discrepancy accounted for 51% of the variance in motion sickness intensity. This finding sheds a new light on the causes of visually induced motion sickness and suggests that it is not governed by an inter-sensory conflict per se, but by beliefs concerning the actual self-motion. This cognitive influence provides a promising tool for the development of new countermeasures.

SUBMITTER: Nooij SAE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7815099 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Beyond sensory conflict: The role of beliefs and perception in motion sickness.

Nooij Suzanne A E SAE Bockisch Christopher J CJ Bülthoff Heinrich H HH Straumann Dominik D

PloS one 20210119 1

Illusory self-motion often provokes motion sickness, which is commonly explained in terms of an inter-sensory conflict that is not in accordance with previous experience. Here we address the influence of cognition in motion sickness and show that such a conflict is not provocative when the observer believes that the motion illusion is indeed actually occurring. Illusory self-motion and motion sickness were elicited in healthy human participants who were seated on a stationary rotary chair inside ...[more]

PMID: 33465124

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Project description:Previous literature suggests a relationship between individual characteristics of motion perception and the peak frequency of motion sickness sensitivity. Here, we used well-established paradigms to relate motion perception and motion sickness on an individual level. We recruited 23 participants to complete a two-part experiment. In the first part, we determined individual velocity storage time constants from perceived rotation in response to Earth Vertical Axis Rotation (EVAR) and subjective vertical time constants from perceived tilt in response to centrifugation. The cross-over frequency for resolution of the gravito-inertial ambiguity was derived from our data using the Multi Sensory Observer Model (MSOM). In the second part of the experiment, we determined individual motion sickness frequency responses. Participants were exposed to 30-minute sinusoidal fore-aft motions at frequencies of 0.15, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 Hz, with a peak amplitude of 2 m/s2 in five separate sessions, approximately 1 week apart. Sickness responses were recorded using both the MIsery SCale (MISC) with 30 s intervals, and the Motion Sickness Assessment Questionnaire (MSAQ) at the end of the motion exposure. The average velocity storage and subjective vertical time constants were 17.2 s (STD = 6.8 s) and 9.2 s (STD = 7.17 s). The average cross-over frequency was 0.21 Hz (STD = 0.10 Hz). At the group level, there was no significant effect of frequency on motion sickness. However, considerable individual variability was observed in frequency sensitivities, with some participants being particularly sensitive to the lowest frequencies, whereas others were most sensitive to intermediate or higher frequencies. The frequency of peak sensitivity did not correlate with the velocity storage time constant (r = 0.32, p = 0.26) or the subjective vertical time constant (r = - 0.37, p = 0.29). Our prediction of a significant correlation between cross-over frequency and frequency sensitivity was not confirmed (r = 0.26, p = 0.44). However, we did observe a strong positive correlation between the subjective vertical time constant and general motion sickness sensitivity (r = 0.74, p = 0.0006). We conclude that frequency sensitivity is best considered a property unique to the individual. This has important consequences for existing models of motion sickness, which were fitted to group averaged sensitivities. The correlation between the subjective vertical time constant and motion sickness sensitivity supports the importance of verticality perception during exposure to translational sickness stimuli.

Dataset Information

Beyond sensory conflict: The role of beliefs and perception in motion sickness.

Publications

Beyond sensory conflict: The role of beliefs and perception in motion sickness.

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