Abstract:

In this study, the effects of motion sickness on brain activity were analyzed. Motion sickness was triggered with a dynamic virtual reality environment which made the subjects feel like beeing at sea on a small boat. Before and after the simulation the subjects had to answer a motion sickness questionnaire. During the experiment, brain activity was acquired with electroencephalography (EEG). Spectral analysis of the EEG was done and the brain activity during the experiment was compared to a baseline measurement. With the answers to the questionnaire different groups were defined (divided by age, gender, or motion sickness susceptibility) and their behavior was compared. 32 out of 147 participants got motion sick according to an index calculated from the questionnaire answers. Statistical analysis showed that most differences in brain activity between baseline and experiment, occurred in the alpha and beta bands. Machine Learning did not give good results on classifying motion sick and not motion sick people, however, classification for gender prediction had an AUC-ROC of up to 0.69.