EEG Studies on Physical Discomforts Induced by Virtual Reality Gaming

Physical discomforts, such as sickness, experienced during virtual reality (VR) gaming were analyzed using electroencephalography (EEG). Correlations between the results of a survey on the physical discomforts felt during a head mounted 360 degrees VR gaming and EEGs were analyzed. EEGs were measured using 19 electrodes before, during, and after VR gaming. The brain was categorized into eight regions and EEGs were analyzed for each region. After gaming, a questionnaire was completed, and correlations between the scores of nausea, ocular discomfort, and disorientation and EEGs were examined. Before and during VR, there were substantial changes in the absolute power and relative power bands depending on the region of interest. The analysis of correlations with the physical discomforts classified based on the questionnaire showed that the theta and beta waves from the occipital and temporal lobes exhibited significant correlations. The EEGs before and after VR gaming did not exhibit significant changes. In this study, a qualitative analysis on the physical discomforts occurring during VR was conducted based on EEG. We expect that EEG can be utilized in providing customized VR capable of minimizing physical discomforts by analyzing the EEG measured in real time and providing feedback to VR gaming.