Cyberpsychological Approach to the Analysis of Multisensory Integration

Abstract

The paper relates to the branch of cyberpsychology associated with risk factors during immersion in a virtual environment. Specialists in the development and operation of virtual reality systems know that immersion into this environment may be accompanied by symptoms similar to the “motion sickness” of transport vehicle passengers (ships, aircraft, cars). In the paper, these conditions are referred to as a cybersickness (or, cyberdisease). The three leading theories, proposed as an explanation of the causes of cybersickness, are discussed: the theory of sensory conflict, the theory of postural instability (the inability to maintain equilibrium), and the evolutionary (aka toxin) theory. A frequent occurrence of symptoms of cybersickness is a conflict between visual signals and signals from the vestibular system. It is shown that such conflicts can be stimulated in the framework of a specially organized experiment (e.g., the illusion of out-of-body experience) using virtual reality systems. When competing signals (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, etc.) reach the brain, the data gained with the use of virtual reality systems give a chance to hypothetically determine the localization of the specific area in the brain that ensures the integration of multisensory stimuli.