• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.79-90
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• 2020

The inconsistency in different sensory information causes virtual reality (VR) sickness. This research verifies whether the consistent sensory information reduces VR sickness within treadmill-based virtual reality. Furthermore, we examined the inconsistency between the visually perceived walking speed by optical flow in VR and the physically perceived walking speed in treadmill walking on VR sickness. In Experiment 1, participants reported VR sickness levels while experiencing an increase in the virtual reality. We compared the VR sickness level reported on the standing still condition with that on the treadmill-walking condition. Based on our results, less VR sickness and more sense of presence and immersion were reported on the treadmill-walking condition than on the standing still condition. In Experiment 2 and Experiment 3, the effect of inconsistency between perceived visual speed and perceived walking speed on VR sickness was examined. Interestingly, participants reported less sickness when the perceived visual speed was faster than the perceived walking speed, compared to when the sense of speed was consistent. These results imply that allowing participants to walk on a treadmill while experiencing virtual reality reduces VR sickness. Hence, the perceived visual-walking speed consistency is not necessarily required to reduce VR sickness.