Individual-difference factors in visually induced motion sickness and vection: Findings from multiple studies on field dependence, age, and biological sex

The illusion of self-motion provoked by dynamic visual stimulation is known as vection and is a common phenomenon when using visual displays such as virtual reality, video games, or movie theatres. Vection has been historically linked to visually induced motion sickness (VIMS), a phenomenon similar to traditional motion sickness characterized by various symptoms including nausea, fatigue, or eyestrain. Many factors are associated with an individual's susceptibility to VIMS and vection, but their impact is not well understood. Here, we investigated how field dependence, biological sex, and age are linked to the occurrence of VIMS and vection. To achieve this, we combined the datasets from four independent experimental studies with a pooled sample size of N = 336, including 237 younger and 99 older adults. Our results demonstrated that younger adults experienced significantly more VIMS compared to older adults and that women reported more VIMS than men (although this effect was rather weak). Additionally, field dependence was positively correlated with vection in younger adults, but no relationship between field dependence and VIMS was found. Overall, the findings from this study suggest that field dependence is not a relevant factor related to VIMS. Interestingly, older adults seem to be at lower risk of experiencing VIMS, which is encouraging considering that many novel applications are tailored towards an ageing population for rehabilitation or training purposes.