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Neural oscillations related to discomfort induced by virtual reality

Poster Session F - Tuesday, April 1, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Mayuka Otsuki¹, Yasufumi Nakata¹, Miki Nagai¹, Ryosuke Yamamoto¹, Minori Sakai¹, Atsushi Aoyama¹; ¹Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan

Long-term exposure to virtual reality (VR) environments often induces discomfort that leads to cybersickness. Though the discomfort has been reported to be caused by visual-vestibular discrepancy, its neural basis is not fully understood. This study thus examined the neural activity related to VR-induced discomfort, especially focusing on neural oscillations, using electroencephalography (EEG). Eighteen participants took part in a series of EEG experiments while they engaged in VR experiences of walking along a straight path with a head mounted display, where either the vertical vibration noise, rendering scale, or refresh rate of the VR content was changed independently to induce varying levels of discomfort. During the experiments, they were instructed to report real-time discomfort on a scale of four levels. Comparisons of the neural oscillations among the different discomfort levels revealed that the EEG power in the low-frequency band (1–10 Hz) increased with discomfort, while the mid-frequency band (10–20 Hz) decreased with it. Overall, the frequency of vertical vibration noise had a relatively greater impact on discomfort compared to other display factors, although the other factors also contributed to discomfort. These findings suggest that not only visual-vestibular discrepancy but also visual quality can give rise to VR-induced discomfort and that the increase in the low-frequency power and the decrease in the middle-frequency power can be the neural basis of the discomfort.

Topic Area: PERCEPTION & ACTION: Multisensory