ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Virtual Real.
Sec. Virtual Reality in Medicine
Modulation of mitigating VR-HMD-induced cybersickness using cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School, Dankook University - Cheonan Campus, Cheonan-si, Republic of Korea
- 2Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health and Welfare Sciences, Dankook University - Cheonan Campus, Cheonan-si, Republic of Korea
- 3Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health and Welfare, Woosuk University, Wanju-gun, Republic of Korea
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Virtual reality head-mounted displays (VR-HMDs) can induce cybersickness symptoms including nausea, dizziness, and disorientation due to sensory conflicts between visual and vestibular inputs. This study investigated the effects of cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on cybersickness symptoms and cortical activity during VR experiences. Twenty healthy adults were randomly assigned to either cathodal tDCS (n=10) or sham stimulation (n=10) groups. Participants underwent VR rollercoaster exposure while cortical activity was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) before and after 20 minutes of 2mA cathodal tDCS applied over the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Cybersickness symptoms were assessed using the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ). Results showed that cathodal tDCS significantly reduced nausea-related cybersickness symptoms compared to sham stimulation (p<0.05). fNIRS analysis revealed decreased oxyhemoglobin concentrations in bilateral superior parietal lobule and angular gyrus following cathodal tDCS, indicating reduced cortical activity in these regions. Between-group comparisons confirmed greater reductions in cortical activity in the right TPJ regions for the cathodal group compared to sham. These findings suggest that cathodal tDCS over the right TPJ can effectively mitigate cybersickness by modulating cortical activity in brain regions associated with multisensory integration and vestibular processing.
Keywords: Cybersickness, transcranial direct current stimulation, virtual reality, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, temporoparietal junction
Received: 19 Aug 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yun, Yeo and Park. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Seo Yoon Park, pgy0614@hanmail.net
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.