Brain monitoring may help virtual reality systems detect discomfort before symptoms become severe.
Researchers at the University of Maryland have found that changes in brain wave activity may help detect cybersickness as it develops, potentially allowing virtual reality headsets to respond before symptoms become severe. Cybersickness is a form of motion sickness linked to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences. It can cause nausea, dizziness, sweating, blurred vision and confusion when digital images create sensations that do not match the body’s physical state.
A study published in the journal Virtual Reality examined whether electroencephalography (EEG), a method of recording electrical activity in the brain, could provide an objective way to identify cybersickness. The research team included scientists from the University of Maryland, the Food and Drug Administration and Sony Group Corporation. The researchers focused on a problem known as the vergence-accommodation conflict. This occurs when the eyes must focus in ways that do not match the apparent distance of an object in a virtual scene. In everyday life, the eyes normally adjust their direction and focus together when looking at something nearby or far away. Many VR headsets, however, display images on screens positioned at a fixed focal distance, even when the objects shown appear to be at different distances.
This mismatch can strain the visual system and contribute to discomfort during immersive experiences. The researchers wanted to find out whether brain activity could provide a measurable sign of this type of cybersickness while a person was still using a headset. The study included 40 participants who wore Meta Quest 2 headsets while viewing a virtual environment designed to produce the eye-focus mismatch. Researchers recorded their brain activity with a system containing 64 electrodes. After the experience, participants completed the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire, a 16-question survey commonly used to measure symptoms linked to virtual environments and flight simulators.
The EEG recordings revealed changes in several patterns of brain wave activity during cybersickness. Researchers found a statistically significant drop in higher-frequency brain waves in the frontal lobe, which is involved in functions such as planning and attention. They also recorded a significant decrease in lower-frequency brain waves in the occipital lobe, an area toward the back of the brain that processes visual information. These changes may help identify when a person is experiencing cybersickness. However, further research will be needed to determine how accurately the patterns can predict symptoms and whether they can be used reliably across different people and virtual environments.
The findings build on earlier work by the same research group, which examined brain activity linked to another form of cybersickness caused by the illusion of movement in a virtual setting. In that situation, a person may feel as though the body is moving even though it remains physically still. The new study extends that research to discomfort linked to how the eyes focus on virtual objects.
One possible future use would connect an EEG monitoring system to a VR headset. If the system detected brain activity associated with developing symptoms, the headset could change the display to make the experience more comfortable. For example, it might adjust how virtual objects appear in relation to the screen’s focal distance. Some headset designs already attempt to reduce the eye-focus mismatch by offering multiple focal distances or other display changes. Continuous brain measurements could help researchers test whether these features work as intended and identify ways to improve them.
The team also plans to study eye-tracking information, which could provide another way to measure users’ responses. Combining eye movements with brain recordings may help researchers separate genuine changes in brain activity from signals caused by eye movements. The long-term goal is to develop a cybersickness measure that combines information from several body signals rather than relying only on personal reports. Such a system could eventually help make extended VR and AR use more comfortable in settings ranging from education and job training to health care and surgical planning.
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