Control of a virtual vehicle influences postural activity and motion sickness in pre-adolescent children

Among adults, persons in control of a vehicle (i.e., drivers) are less likely to experience motion sickness compared to persons in the same vehicle who do not control it (i.e., passengers). This “driver-passenger effect” is well-known in adults, but has not been evaluated in children. Using a yoked-control design with seated pre-adolescent children, we exposed dyads to a driving video game. In each dyad, one child (the driver) drove the virtual vehicle. Their performance was recorded, and later shown to the other child (the passenger). Thus, visual motion stimuli were identical for the members of each dyad. During exposure to the video game, we monitored the quantitative kinematics of head and torso movements. Participants were instructed to discontinue participation immediately if they experienced any symptoms of motion sickness, however mild. Accordingly, the movements that we recorded preceded the onset of motion sickness. Results revealed that Passengers (73.08%) were more likely than Drivers (42.31%) to state that they were motion sick. Drivers tended to move more than passengers, and with a greater degree of multifractality. The magnitude of movement was greater among participants who later reported motion sickness than among those who did not. In addition, for the multifractality of movement a statistically significant interaction revealed that postural precursors of motion sickness differed qualitatively between Drivers and Passengers. Overall, the results reveal that control of a virtual vehicle reduces the risk of motion sickness among pre-adolescent children.