Effects of rest frames on cybersickness and oscillatory brain activity

Cybersickness is an undesirable side effect, which occurs when people experience in a virtual environment (VE). A number of studies have tried to find ways to control cybersickness and some of them have demonstrated that presenting rest frames in VE might be one promising method to reduce cybersickness. This study investigates the effects of rest frames on cybersickness and the cybersickness-related brain activities. Participants (n=22) were exposed to a roller coaster simulator in a VE, both under a rest frame condition and a nonrest frame condition, in counter-balanced order while undergoing EEG recordings. Participants who experienced less cybersickness in the rest frame condition showed characteristic oscillations in different EEG frequency bands compared to those of in the nonrest frame condition. Based on the level of cybersickness and oscillatory EEG changes, we suggest that rest frames may reduce or delay the onset of cybersickness by alleviating users´ attention or perception load.