Potential factors contributing to observed sex differences in virtual-reality-induced sickness.

Bannigan, Grainne M; de Sousa, Alexandra A; Scheller, Meike; Finnegan, Daniel J; Proulx, Michael J

doi:10.1007/s00221-023-06760-0

Potential factors contributing to observed sex differences in virtual-reality-induced sickness.

Bannigan, Grainne M; de Sousa, Alexandra A; Scheller, Meike; Finnegan, Daniel J; Proulx, Michael J

Authors

Grainne M Bannigan

Alexandra A de Sousa

Dr Meike Scheller meike.scheller@durham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor

Daniel J Finnegan

Michael J Proulx

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) technology has been widely adopted for several professional and recreational applications. Despite rapid innovation in hardware and software, one of the long prevailing issues for end users of VR is the experience of VR sickness. Females experience stronger VR sickness compared to males, and previous research has linked susceptibility to VR sickness to the menstrual cycle (Munafo et al., Exp Brain Res 235(3):889-901). Here we investigated the female versus male experience in VR sickness while playing an immersive VR game, comparing days of the menstrual cycle when hormones peak: day 15 (ovulation-peak estrogen) and day 22 (mid-luteal phase-peak progesterone). We found that immersion duration was greater in the second session than the first, and discomfort was lessened, suggesting a powerful adaptation with repeated exposure. Due to the estrogen levels changing along with the exposure, there was no clear independent impact of that; note, though, that there was a significant difference between self-report and physiological measures implying that GSR is potentially an unreliable measure of motion sickness. Although prior work found a delay over 2 days between session would not allow adaptation and habituation to reduce VR sickness susceptibility, we found that a week delay has potential success.

Citation

Bannigan, G. M., de Sousa, A. A., Scheller, M., Finnegan, D. J., & Proulx, M. J. (2024). Potential factors contributing to observed sex differences in virtual-reality-induced sickness. Experimental Brain Research, 242, 463-475. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-023-06760-0

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Nov 30, 2023
Online Publication Date	Jan 3, 2024
Publication Date	Jan 3, 2024
Deposit Date	Mar 18, 2024
Publicly Available Date	Mar 18, 2024
Journal	Experimental brain research
Print ISSN	0014-4819
Publisher	Springer
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	242
Pages	463-475
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-023-06760-0
Keywords	Psychophysiology, Motion sickness, Virtual reality, Menstrual cycle
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2151606

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