Christopher Curry, Ruixuan Li, Nicolette Peterson, and Thomas A. Stoffregen, PhD, co-published an article titled, “Cybersickness in Virtual Reality Head-Mounted Displays: Examining the Influence of Sex Differences and Vehicle Control” published in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction. 

The study noted past research stating motion sickness is more common among women, and motion sickness in vehicles is more common among passengers. The study explored a possible interaction between these two effects.

The study concluded that there was no evidence that the incidence of motion sickness, or the severity of motion sickness symptoms differed between the sexes, or between drivers and passengers. However, among participants who discontinued early, the exposure time for female drivers was significantly less than for male drivers. The results confirm that motion sickness is a common effect of head mounted display use, and suggest that in virtual environments sex differences in motion sickness may vary with specific tasks.

Thomas A. Stoffregen, PhD is the director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL) and a professor in the School of Kinesiology. Christopher Curry and Nicolette Peterson are APAL graduate student researchers. Ruixuan Li is a recent APAL doctoral student, and received her Doctorate degree in Human Factors and Ergonomics in 2018.