Relationship between temporal changes in cardiac parasympathetic activity and motion sickness severity

Chemotherapy-induced nausea has been associated with a time-related decrease in cardiac parasympathetic activity. We tested the hypothesis that a time-related decrease in cardiac parasympathetic activity would also be associated with nausea and other motion sickness symptoms during illusory self-motion (vection). Fifty-nine participants (aged 18-34 years: 25 male) were exposed to a rotating optokinetic drum to induce vection. Symptoms of motion sickness and an estimate of cardiac parasympathetic activity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA) were obtained at baseline and throughout a drum-rotation period. As expected, motion sickness symptoms increased and RSA decreased over time during drum rotation. Moreover, greater decreases in RSA over time correlated with greater motion sickness severity. These results suggest that a time-related decrease in cardiac parasympathetic activity may be an important correlate of nausea and motion sickness across different evocative contexts.