Title

Locus of user-initiated control in virtual environments: Influences on cybersickness

Authors

Authors

K. M. Stanney;P. Hash

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Presence-Teleoper. Virtual Env.

Keywords

SIMULATOR SICKNESS; Computer Science, Cybernetics; Computer Science, Software Engineering

Abstract

Cybersickness is a pervasive and deleterious effect of human-virtual environment interaction. This paper applies motion-sickness adaptation theory to cybersickness in virtual environments to determine if the degree of user-initiated control can suppress sickness. It is suggested that if users are allowed some level of control over their movement within a virtual environment, cybersickness will not be as severe as that resulting from an environment in which users must follow a predetermined (i. e., scripted) path of movement. While past motion-sickness studies have examined control versus no control, the present study focuses on modifying the level of user-initiated control such that it matches the needs of the task characteristics while minimizing sickness. The degree of user sickness was tested under passive, active, and active-passive control scenarios. As measured by the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire, the active (i. e., complete control) condition reduced the severity of the symptoms experienced as compared to the passive (i. e., no control) condition, but did not do so as completely as the active-passive (i. e., coupled control) condition. The implication is that the level of user-initiated control can be manipulated to modify the deleterious effects of human-virtual environment interaction.

Journal Title

Presence-Teleoperators and Virtual Environments

Volume

7

Issue/Number

5

Publication Date

1-1-1998

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

447

Last Page

459

WOS Identifier

WOS:000076779000002

ISSN

1054-7460

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