Changes in brain blood flow during stereoscopic video clips

Abstract

The technology provides an enhanced visual experience with realistic scene portrayal, but is known to cause motion sickness when stereoscopic video clips of rotating or blurred images are viewed. Viewers complain of symptoms such as eye fatigue, nausea, and dizziness. The underlying cause of these symptoms has not been identified; therefore, an investigation to determine the mechanism for the motion sickness is necessary. Compared to the baseline test, the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin in the occipital lobe increased significantly during a viewing for both background cases. The result is consistent with both visual recognition methods. Furthermore, for both background cases, the concentration in the upper occipital lobe significantly increased during peripheral viewing versus visual pursuit. Peripheral viewing might enhance the activity in the dorsal stream, which could serve as an indication to the mechanism causing 3D sickness.