Gaze behavior and heart rate variability during physical discomfort in stereoscopic 3D movie

What is it about?

Physical discomfort is commonly reported by spectators of stereoscopic 3D movie. In scientific literature, this discomfort is known as visually induced motion sickness (VIMS). VIMS is different from car motion sickness or sea motion sickness because individuals may develop symptoms of motion sickness only by watching visual stimulation. In car or sea sickness, however, there are stimulations to visual and balance (vestibular) systems. Common symptoms found during or after exposure to the movie include a headache, fatigue, general discomfort, dizziness, and nausea. Previous researchers used the simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ)--a self-reported questionnaire--to quantify the level of this discomfort. However, the questionnaire has been delivered mainly after exposure of the movie, so that the provoking scenes of the movie, the duration of motion sickness, and how visual behavior during exposure correlates with heart rate variability are yet to be studied rigorously. This research proposes a new approach to study VIMS in stereoscopic 3D movie by observing 3D gaze behavior, heart rate variability, and self-reported judgment. Forty participants (N=40) watched only one of two 3D contents—3D content with a strong or a moderate sensation of vection (i.e., a feeling of self-motion). We observed that viewers of the 3D content with an intense feeling of vection more frequently reported symptoms of nausea and disorientation than their counterpart. Our results show that sickness level could be reduced by persistently gazing at a particular point during exposure of 3D movie. Additionally, we found that individuals who were prone to motion sickness experienced depth gaze oscillation during several provoking scenes in dynamic 3D contents.

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Why is it important?

Observing physical discomfort in 3D movie is important as 3D movie is still being used for various purposes including scientific visualization, medical training, technical workshops, and entertainment. By observing various provoking factors of motion sickness in 3D movie, production houses may produce 3D movie by considering several things such as: minimizing amount of provoking scenes, predicting and informing the spectators to be aware of motion sickness in particular scenes, and developing a computer-based software to analyze various scenes in 3D movie that may lead to motion sickness. Our approach is the first approach in the world that considers not only self-reported questionnaire and heart rate variability, but also how individuals gazing at X, Y, and Z direction.

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