Knowing what’s coming: Anticipatory audio cues can mitigate motion sickness

About two in three people have experienced carsickness at some point in their life (Reason & Brand, 1975). Little is known about current numbers of sufferers, cultural differences, or which modulating factors are being perceived as most relevant. Therefore, given a global increase of interest in carsickness driven by the development of automated...

Knowing what’s coming: Anticipatory audio cues can mitigate motion sickness

Being able to anticipate upcoming motion is known to potentially mitigate sickness resulting from provocative motion. We investigated whether auditory cues could increase anticipation and subsequently reduce motion sickness. Participants (N = 20) were exposed on a sled on a rail track to two 15-min conditions. Both were identical in terms of...

Motion predictability and sickness

Although the effect of motion predictability on motion sickness seems common knowledge, relevant literature is scarce. We therefore performed two experiments. In Experiment A, 17 subjects were exposed to 15 minutes of repeated forward/backward motions on a linear sled, repeated within subjects in three ways: 1) using identical motions...

Self-driving carsickness

This paper discusses the predicted increase in the occurrence and severity of motion sickness in self-driving cars. Self-driving cars have the potential to lead to significant benefits. From the driver's perspective, the direct benefits of this technology are considered increased comfort and productivity. However, we here show that the envisaged...

Motion Sickness in Automated Vehicles: The Elephant in the Room

Automation disuse and associated loss of automation benefits may occur if users of automated vehicles experience motion sickness. Compared to conventional vehicles, motion sickness will be of greater concern due to the absence of vehicle control and the anticipated engagement in non-driving tasks. Furthermore, future users are expected to be...

User interface considerations to prevent self-driving carsickness

Self-driving cars have the potential to bring significant benefits to drivers and society at large. However, all envisaged scenarios are predicted to increase the risk of motion sickness. This will negatively affect user acceptance and uptake and hence negate the benefits of this technology. Here we discuss the impact of the user interface...

How robust is the language architecture? The case of mood

In neurocognitive research on language, the processing principles of the system at hand are usually assumed to be relatively invariant. However, research on attention, memory, decision-making, and social judgment has shown that mood can substantially modulate how the brain processes information. For example, in a bad mood, people typically have...

A visual display enhancing comfort by counteracting airsickness

A simulator study has been conducted demonstrating a positive effect on airsickness by utilizing a 3D artificial Earth-fixed visual pattern. Participants were exposed to the same turbulent physical aircraft motion in a simulator three times in a row, each time using a different visual cue. In one condition only the interior of the simulator...

Effects of head-slaved navigation and the use of teleports on spatial orientation in virtual environments

The type of navigation interface in a virtual environment (VE) - head slaved or indirect - determines whether or not proprioceptive feedback stimuli are present during movement. In addition, teleports can be used, which do not provide continuous movement but, rather, discontinuously displace the viewpoint over large distances. A two-part...