title: The sickening rug: a repeating static pattern that leads to motion-sickness-like symptoms.
abstract: The nauseogenic properties of a patterned rug that reputedly caused motion-sickness-like symptoms in those who viewed it was the topic of this study. Naive observers viewed a 1:1 scale image of the black-and-white patterned rug and a homogeneous gray region of equivalent luminance in a counterbalanced within-subjects design. After 5 min of viewing, symptoms were assessed with the simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ), yielding a total SSQ score and sub-scores for nausea, oculomotor symptoms, and disorientation. All four scores were significantly higher in the rug condition. Observers also reported significantly more self-motion perception in the rug condition, even though they were seated during the experiment. Results are consistent with findings that suggest that neurologically normal individuals who view a repeating static pattern can experience unpleasant symptoms, some of which are similar to motion sickness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Saint Peter's College, 2641 Kennedy Boulevard, Jersey City, NJ 07306, USA. Fbonato@spc.edu
authors.forename: Frederick
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bonato
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bubka
authors.forename: Shaziela
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ishak
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Graveline
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009041:Motion Sickness / Q000209:etiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires