Physiological and psychological correlates of motion sickness

Motion sickness (MS)has been inconclusively associated with personality and physical vestibular functioning in both males and females. The present work consisted of six tests: test of field dependency; pure balance test; motion sickness questionnaire; body steadiness test; primary suggestibility test; resistance to disturbance test. In addition the EPI was completed by a proportion of subjects. Male and female data for the 15 male and 15 female subjects in an age range 20 to 30 years, obtained from within Bedford College, University of London, were factor analysed separately. The results show that, firstly, field dependence, as understood by Witkin, is not associated with any of the factor and correlated significantly (r = 0.83, P less than 0.001; two-tailed test). The same correlation in women was not significantly (r = 0.17). For females, MS and neuroticism appeared on the same factor and correlated significantly (r = 0.62, P less than 0.05; two tailed test). The same correlation in men was not significant (r = 0.06). This suggests that MS in females is associated primarily with neuroticism, whereas in males it is associated with vestibular disturbance thresholds.