Newswise — The way our senses adapt to high-intensity virtual reality games is important in understanding why some people experience severe cybersickness while others do not.
Cybersickness is a type of sickness that some people get when they use virtual reality or augmented reality technology, where they feel like they are moving even though they are not.
Researchers at the University of Waterloo led a study that discovered that participants’ perception of vertical lines changed significantly after playing a high-intensity VR game. The study measured this perception using something called the subjective visual vertical.
Michael Barnett-Cowan, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, said that the study's results suggest that a person's cybersickness is affected by how their senses adjust to the conflict between reality and virtual reality. He also added that this knowledge could be helpful for developers and designers of VR experiences to create more comfortable and enjoyable environments for users.
The researchers had 31 people play two VR games, one high-intensity and one low-intensity, and measured their perceptions of vertical lines before and after playing the games.
The study found that people who experienced less cybersickness were more likely to have a significant change in how they perceived vertical lines after playing a high-intensity VR game. On the other hand, those who experienced more cybersickness were less likely to have a change in perception. There were no differences between males and females or between participants with low and high gaming experience.
Co-author William Chung stated that even though the subjective visual vertical task was a significant predictor of cybersickness symptoms, there are still many factors that need to be explained.
The researchers hope that by understanding how individuals' senses adjust during VR experiences and how this relates to cybersickness, they can create personalized strategies to reduce the likelihood of cybersickness. They also aim to create VR experiences that take into account individual differences in sensory processing to provide a more comfortable and enjoyable experience for users.
As VR continues to revolutionize gaming, education and social interaction, addressing the pervasive issue of cybersickness – marked by symptoms such as nausea, disorientation, eye strain and fatigue – is critical for ensuring a positive user experience.
The study, Sensory reweighting: a common mechanism for subjective visual vertical and cybersickness susceptibility,” was published in the journal Virtual Reality.
RSS