Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation towards Visually Induced Motion Sickness Reduction: A Pilot Study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neuromodulation
• Gastroenterology

Background:

• Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique targeting vagal afferent pathways.
• taVNS shows potential for treating various disorders due to its ability to modulate neural activity.
• Motion sickness, a common condition, significantly impacts quality of life and has limited non-pharmacological treatments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of taVNS on neural activity during visually induced motion sickness.
• To evaluate the efficacy of taVNS in reducing motion sickness severity.
• To explore the potential of taVNS as a real-time, non-pharmacological intervention for motion sickness.

Main Methods:

• A randomized, within-subjects, cross-over design was employed with 15 healthy participants.
• 64-channel electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record neural activity under both taVNS and sham conditions.
• The Motion Sickness Assessment Questionnaire (MSAQ) assessed symptom severity.

Main Results:

• taVNS significantly attenuated theta brain activity (4-8 Hz) in the right frontal, right parietal, and occipital cortices compared to sham.
• Participants reported significantly lower total MSAQ scores and categorical scores (central, peripheral, sopite) after taVNS.
• These findings demonstrate taVNS's ability to reduce neural correlates and subjective symptoms of motion sickness.

Conclusions:

• taVNS demonstrates a therapeutic role in counteracting motion sickness.
• taVNS may serve as a reliable, non-pharmacological method for real-time alleviation of motion sickness symptoms.
• The findings suggest potential translational value for conditions like chemotherapy-induced nausea.