Effects of peripheral retinal slip on visually induced motion sickness in the presence of eye motion

Peripheral retinal slip (PRS) is important to visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) due to its capability on detection of visual motion. This study includes two experiments to investigate effect of PRS on VIMS. Experiment one varied PRS velocity and controlled eye motion and foveal retinal slip (FRS) velocity to zero. Results in experiment one showed that VIMS increased significantly with PRS velocity increased from 8dps to 60dps (p < 0.05). Experiment two varied PRS velocity and controlled eye motion velocity to 40dps and FRS velocity to 20 dps. Ratio scale on nausea rating at 30th minute of exposure showed that sickness level when PRS was 60dps was significant higher than 10dps (p < 0.05). Other dependent variables on VIMS in Experiment two showed the same trend but not significant. Obviously, PRS revealed a stronger effect in Experiment one where eye motion and FRS velocities were suppressed to zero than Experiment two. This result could arise for two reasons. First, there was a ceiling effect when eye motion velocity was 40dps or FRS velocity was 20dps; second, an interaction exists between eye motion, FRS and PRS.