Virtual reality can be a powerful training tool for surgeons and clinicians. However, first-time users of VR can experience cybersickness; symptoms of cybersickness include nausea, eye soreness and headaches, according to the Aug. 15 Iowa State news release.
Jonathan Kelly, PhD, an Iowa State University professor of psychology, conducted tests to determine whether exposure to virtual reality solves cybersickness. Dr. Kelly took 150 students with no VR experience and had them play a VR video game to record their cybersickness symptoms.
The initial results showed that three weekly 20-minute virtual reality sessions reduced cybersickness. However, Dr. Kelly plans to conduct more research to explore the gender disparities in rates of cybersickness and to see how cybersickness affects people with motion sickness.
