161 - You Spin Me Right Round: Cybersickness in a Virtual Reality Learning Module

Poster Board Number: 161
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Farah Hasan - Education Program in Anatomy - McMaster University; Aida Esmaelbeigi - Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program - McMaster University; Alyssandra Mammoliti - Honours Biology and Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour Program - McMaster University; Jennifer McBride - Department of Education, Innovation and Technology - Baylor College of Medicine; Josh Mitchell - Education Program in Anatomy - McMaster University; Ranil Sonnadara - Department of Surgery - McMaster University; David Mazierski - Biomedical Communications - University of Toronto Mississauga; Bruce Wainman - Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine - McMaster University

Abstract Body : Introduction: The opportunity for full environmental immersion with virtual reality (VR) makes it an alluring technology for learning; however, the experience may be hampered by cybersickness which is common with VR use. The objective of this study is to examine how cybersickness is impacted by learning in different modalities (VR, planar computer display (2D), or 3D-printed models (3DPM)) and environments (clinical or context-free). We expect that cybersickness is highest for the VR groups and lowest for the 3DPM groups due to the digital nature of the VR and 2D modalities. We also expect that cybersickness is higher for the clinical group due to additional visual stimuli in the clinical environment.





Methods: Learning conditions were organized into a 3 (modalities) x 2 (environments) experimental design. Participants completed a 10-minute learning module on pelvic anatomy, delivered digitally for the VR and 2D conditions. Participants used handheld VR controllers and a computer mouse to rotate pelvis models, and for the 3DPM condition, pelvis models were placed on turntables. The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) was administered to measure the severity of 16 symptoms associated with cybersickness based on 3 subscales: nausea, disorientation, and oculomotor. Participants also completed the Mental Rotations Test (MRT), NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX), and User Engagement Scale (UES), which are known covariates of cybersickness.





Results: Adjusted means (±SE) of SSQ scores for the VR, computer, and 3DPM conditions were 26.5 (2.4), 14.5 (2.4), and 18.3 (2.3), respectively. Preliminary analysis using a two-way ANCOVA revealed a significant main effect of modality [F(2,111) = 6.13, p = 0.003, ɳp2 = 0.100], but not environment [F(1,111) = 3.72, p = 0.056, ɳp2 = 0.032], on cybersickness. There was no
significant interaction between modality and environment [F(2,111) = 0.847, p = 0.432, ɳp2 = 0.015]. Pairwise comparisons with Bonferroni correction revealed that the average SSQ score was significantly higher for VR than 2D (p = 0.003).





Significance: It is no surprise that cybersickness symptoms were more severe for VR use than for 2D: VR tends to intensify these symptoms due to its immersive nature and misperception of motion when stationary. It is interesting that cybersickness levels were not significantly different between VR and 3DPMs. Cybersickness with the 3DPMs was unexpected, but rotating multiple turntables and moving between module stations added a dimension of movement which may have increased feelings of nausea, disorientation, and oculomotor strain.





Conclusion: While cybersickness is an uncomfortable side effect of VR, our results suggest that it may not be much worse than “gold standard” 3DPMs used for anatomical education.