EEG Brain Waves Reveal Real-Time Cybersickness in VR and AR

University of Maryland researchers recorded real-time brain wave shifts in 40 study participants wearing Meta Quest 2 headsets, contrasting objective electroencephalography data against the subjective 16-question Simulator Sickness Questionnaire deployed since 1993. While 65.2% of virtual reality users traditionally report experiencing cybersickness, and 23.9% report severe symptoms, the September 25, 2026, study published in the journal Virtual Reality seeks to support continuous physiological monitoring.

Brain Wave Shifts During Immersion

Lead author Mattie Johnson stated that the findings show electroencephalography could complement traditional symptom questionnaires and support systems responding to symptoms in real time. The research team recorded brain activity using a 64-electrode system while participants experienced an immersive environment designed to induce the vergence-accommodation conflict. That conflict creates a mismatch between where the eyes converge to view an object and the distance at which they focus.

The recordings revealed statistically significant decreases in high brain wave frequencies in the frontal lobe during cybersickness. Researchers also observed statistically significant decreases in low brain wave frequencies in the occipital lobe. Amitabh Varshney, a computer science professor and dean who led the study in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration and Sony Group Corporation, noted that an earlier study proved electroencephalography is a reliable indicator of vection-induced cybersickness.

Closing the Measurement Gap

The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire relies on participants reporting their symptoms after an immersive experience concludes. Sujal Bista, director of the Immersive Visualization Center at the University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing, pointed out that the 1993 questionnaire does not allow for continuous data collection from the user. That limitation leaves developers without real-time metrics while users experience nausea, dizziness, sweating, blurred vision, or disorientation.

Connecting an EEG-monitoring device directly to a virtual reality headset could allow the hardware to mitigate symptoms automatically. If the system detects a pattern associated with emerging discomfort, the headset could adjust the virtual scene by bringing displayed content closer to the focal plane. Some headset technologies already address the vergence-accommodation mismatch by providing multiple focal planes, and continuous physiological signals could help evaluate those approaches.

Next Steps for Physiological Tracking

Johnson and co-authors plan to investigate eye-tracking data to provide another objective measure while helping distinguish brain activity from eye-related artifacts in electroencephalography recordings. Bista emphasized that the team wants to build a cybersickness index combining data from different physiological measures. Barbara Brawn, Jonathan Heagerty, and Sida Li also co-authored the study published under DOI: 10.1007/s10055-026-01484-2.