Cybersickness and migraine triggers: Exploring common ground

Abstract

Cybersickness is a challenge for the implementation and enjoyment of virtual reality. There are many similarities in symptoms between cybersickness and migraine, therefore migraine research may help us better understand cybersickness. This paper investigates if many common migraine triggers affect cybersickness in virtual reality, by reviewing existing literature and research. Out of 22 identified common migraine triggers, 11 were found to increase cybersickness, 1 was found to have no effect and 6 had only limited research and the effects could not be determined. The other 4 triggers were found to be not relevant to a virtual reality situation. Based on these results, future research is suggested to determine the effects of these triggers as they may have a currently unknown negative affect on cybersickness.