Korean J Aerosp Environ Med.  2010 Jul;19(3):87-90.

Motion Sickness

• Jeong SH

Abstract

Motion sickness refers to the normal universal physiological response to unusual perception of motion,whether real or apparent (e.g., cars, boats, planes, tilting trains, funfair rides, space, and virtual reality). A functional vestibular system is a pre-requisite for motion sickness to occur. Currently, motion sickness is thought to arise from conflicting information processed within a multimodal sensory system whose function is to determine the individual’s motion relative to his/her environment. This has been termed the “neural mismatch theory”. Space sickness is a specific form of motion sickness when movements are made during exposure to unusual force backgrounds both higher and lower in magnitude that 1 g earth gravity. The key factor in eliciting space motion sickness appears to be head movements, especially head movements in pitch and roll. At present, there are no adequate predictors of susceptibility/severity of space motion sickness. Besides, there are no indicators of ability to adapt to provocative motion environments which may be more important than susceptibility given that 70% astronauts and cosmonauts experience some degree of space motion sickness.

Keyword

Motion sickness; Space sickness