Coupling effects of vection and compensatory head sway on simulator sickness and gender difference

A global model of simulator sickness is outlined that suggests the sequence of events leading to the development of simulator aftereffects. The model attempts to link coupling effects of illusory self-motion(vection) and compensatory head sway to the origin of simulator sickness. A pilot study was conducted in support of a rescarch program that will investigate the proposed model. Seven males and four females participated in a 5-min scssion in a fixed-base automobile simulator. Due to restricted sample size, descriptive statistics are presented for measures of simulator sickness, lateral sway velocity (Y-velocity), driving performance, control inpuls, and vection ratings. Although potential trends are discussed, no statistical conclusions can be drawn. Measurement issures for te next phase of reasearch mclude increasing the sensitivity of vection ratings, and examination of the timecourse got development of compensatory sway.