scholarly journals Knowing What’s Coming: Unpredictable Motion Causes More Motion Sickness

Author(s):  
Ouren X. Kuiper ◽  
Jelte E. Bos ◽  
Eike A. Schmidt ◽  
Cyriel Diels ◽  
Stefan Wolter

Objective This study explores the role of anticipation in motion sickness. We compared three conditions varying in motion predictability and assessed the effect of anticipation on subsequent illness ratings using a within-subjects design. Background Anticipation is thought to play a role in motion sickness by reducing the discrepancy between sensed and expected sensory information. However, both the exact role and potential magnitude of anticipation on motion sickness are unknown. Method Participants ( N = 17) were exposed to three 15-min conditions consisting of repeated fore-aft motion on a sled on a 40-m rail (1) at constant intervals and consistent motion direction, (2) at constant intervals but varied motion direction, and (3) at varied intervals but consistent motion direction. Conditions were otherwise identical in motion intensity and displacement, as they were composed of the same repetitions of identical blocks of motion. Illness ratings were recorded at 1-min intervals using an 11-point motion sickness scale. Results Average illness ratings after exposure were significantly lower for the predictable condition, compared with both the directionally unpredictable condition and the temporally unpredictable condition. Conclusion Unpredictable motion is significantly more provocative compared with predictable motion. Findings suggest motion sickness results from a discrepancy between sensed and expected motion, rather than from unpreparedness to motion. Application This study underlines the importance of an individual’s anticipation to motion in motion sickness. Furthermore, this knowledge could be used in domains such as that of autonomous vehicles to reduce carsickness.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Machuca-Márquez ◽  
Laura Sánchez-Benito ◽  
Fabien Menardy ◽  
Andrea Urpi ◽  
Isabella Appiah ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTPassive motion can induce kinetosis (motion sickness, MS) in susceptible individuals. MS is an evolutionary conserved mechanism caused by mismatches between motion-related sensory information and past visual and motion memory, triggering a malaise accompanied by hypolocomotion, hypothermia, hypophagia and aversion to novel foods presented coincidentally. Vestibular nuclei (VN) are critical for the processing of movement input, and motion-induced activation of VN neurons recapitulates MS-related signs. However, the genetic identity of VN neurons mediating MS-related autonomic and aversive responses remains unknown. Here, we identify a glutamatergic vestibular circuitry necessary to elicit MS-related behavioral responses, defining a central role of cholecystokinin (CCK)- expressing glutamatergic VN neurons in vestibular-induced malaise. Moreover, we show that CCK VN inputs onto the parabrachial nucleus activate Calca-expressing neurons and are sufficient to establish hypothermia and aversion to novel food. Together, we provide novel insight into the neurobiological regulation of MS, unravelling key genetically defined neural substrates for kinetosis.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexia Bourgeois ◽  
Carole Guedj ◽  
Emmanuel Carrera ◽  
Patrik Vuilleumier

Selective attention is a fundamental cognitive function that guides behavior by selecting and prioritizing salient or relevant sensory information of our environment. Despite early evidence and theoretical proposal pointing to an implication of thalamic control in attention, most studies in the past two decades focused on cortical substrates, largely ignoring the contribution of subcortical regions as well as cortico-subcortical interactions. Here, we suggest a key role of the pulvinar in the selection of salient and relevant information via its involvement in priority maps computation. Prioritization may be achieved through a pulvinar- mediated generation of alpha oscillations, which may then modulate neuronal gain in thalamo-cortical circuits. Such mechanism might orchestrate the synchrony of cortico-cortical interaction, by rendering neural communication more effective, precise and selective. We propose that this theoretical framework will support a timely shift from the prevailing cortico- centric view of cognition to a more integrative perspective of thalamic contributions to attention and executive control processes.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindel White ◽  
John Michael Kelly ◽  
Azim Shariff ◽  
Ara Norenzayan

Four experiments (total N = 3591) examined how thinking about Karma and God increases adherence to social norms that prescribe fairness in anonymous dictator games. We found that (1) thinking about Karma decreased selfishness among karmic believers across religious affiliations, including Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, and non-religious Americans; (2) thinking about God also decreased selfishness among believers in God (but not among non-believers), replicating previous findings; and (3) thinking about both karma and God shifted participants’ initially selfish offers towards fairness (the normatively prosocial response), but had no effect on already fair offers. These supernatural framing effects were obtained and replicated in high-powered, pre-registered experiments and remained robust to several methodological checks, including hypothesis guessing, game familiarity, demographic variables, between- and within-subjects designs, and variation in data exclusion criteria. These results support the role of culturally-elaborated beliefs about supernatural justice as a motivator of believer’s adherence to prosocial norms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (13) ◽  
pp. 7091
Author(s):  
Timothée Fettrelet ◽  
Lea Gigon ◽  
Alexander Karaulov ◽  
Shida Yousefi ◽  
Hans-Uwe Simon

Eosinophils are specialized white blood cells, which are involved in the pathology of diverse allergic and nonallergic inflammatory diseases. Eosinophils are traditionally known as cytotoxic effector cells but have been suggested to additionally play a role in immunomodulation and maintenance of homeostasis. The exact role of these granule-containing leukocytes in health and diseases is still a matter of debate. Degranulation is one of the key effector functions of eosinophils in response to diverse stimuli. The different degranulation patterns occurring in eosinophils (piecemeal degranulation, exocytosis and cytolysis) have been extensively studied in the last few years. However, the exact mechanism of the diverse degranulation types remains unknown and is still under investigation. In this review, we focus on recent findings and highlight the diversity of stimulation and methods used to evaluate eosinophil degranulation.


Author(s):  
Zaw Htike ◽  
Georgios Papaioannou ◽  
Efstathios Siampis ◽  
Efstathios Velenis ◽  
Stefano Longo

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riza Casidy ◽  
Marius Claudy ◽  
Sven Heidenreich ◽  
Efe Camurdan

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Géraldine Fauville ◽  
Anna C. M. Queiroz ◽  
Erika S. Woolsey ◽  
Jonathan W. Kelly ◽  
Jeremy N. Bailenson

AbstractResearch about vection (illusory self-motion) has investigated a wide range of sensory cues and employed various methods and equipment, including use of virtual reality (VR). However, there is currently no research in the field of vection on the impact of floating in water while experiencing VR. Aquatic immersion presents a new and interesting method to potentially enhance vection by reducing conflicting sensory information that is usually experienced when standing or sitting on a stable surface. This study compares vection, visually induced motion sickness, and presence among participants experiencing VR while standing on the ground or floating in water. Results show that vection was significantly enhanced for the participants in the Water condition, whose judgments of self-displacement were larger than those of participants in the Ground condition. No differences in visually induced motion sickness or presence were found between conditions. We discuss the implication of this new type of VR experience for the fields of VR and vection while also discussing future research questions that emerge from our findings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingzhao Su ◽  
Junhua Liu ◽  
Baocong Yu ◽  
Kaixing Zhou ◽  
Congli Sun ◽  
...  

AbstractThe rodent whisker-barrel cortex system has been established as an ideal model for studying sensory information integration. The barrel cortex consists of barrel and septa columns that receive information input from the lemniscal and paralemniscal pathways, respectively. Layer 5a is involved in both barrel and septa circuits and play a key role in information integration. However, the role of layer 5a in the development of the barrel cortex remains unclear. Previously, we found that calretinin is dynamically expressed in layer 5a. In this study, we analyzed calretinin KO mice and found that the dendritic complexity and length of layer 5a pyramidal neurons were significantly decreased after calretinin ablation. The membrane excitability and excitatory synaptic transmission of layer 5a neurons were increased. Consequently, the organization of the barrels was impaired. Moreover, layer 4 spiny stellate cells were not able to properly gather, leading to abnormal formation of barrel walls as the ratio of barrel/septum size obviously decreased. Calretinin KO mice exhibited deficits in exploratory and whisker-associated tactile behaviors as well as social novelty preference. Our study expands our knowledge of layer 5a pyramidal neurons in the formation of barrel walls and deepens the understanding of the development of the whisker-barrel cortex system.


1994 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Egan ◽  
M. Denise Delaat

Despite its prominent place in the Occupational Therapy Guidelines for client-centred practice, the exact role of spirituality in clinical practice has been difficult to delineate. In this paper current concepts of spirituality are outlined and ways in which these concepts have been applied in health care are described. To illustrate these spiritual concepts, the experiences of individuals whom the authors have met in their clinical practice are outlined in a series of vignettes. Finally, a revision of the model of occupational performance which enhances consideration of spirituality in occupational therapy practice is proposed, and some guidelines for occupational therapists wishing to incorporate spiritual concerns in therapy are suggested.


Nuncius ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Valleriani

The paper aims to show how sixteenth century hydraulic and pneumatic engineers appropriated ancient science and technology – codified in the text of Hero of Alexandria’s Pneumatics – to enter into scientific discourse, for instance, with natural philosophers. They drew on the logical structure, content and narrative style passed down from antiquity to generate and codify their own theoretical approach and to document their new technological achievements. They did so by using the form of commented and enlarged editions, just as Aristotelian natural philosophers had been doing for centuries. The argument aims to detail the exact role of ancient science and the process of transformation it underwent during the early modern period. In particular, it aims to show how pneumatic engineers first tested the ancient technology codified by Hero while carrying out their own practical activities. Once these tests were successfully concluded, in the spirit of early modern humanism they finally presented these activities as being associated with the work of their discipline’s most authoritative author, Hero of Alexandria, whose technology was tested during the construction of the hydraulic and pneumatic system of the garden of Pratolino.


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