Physical motion driving simulators serve as a valuable research and training tool. Since many simulator participants suffer from simulator sickness (SS), we aimed to gain a better understanding of participant-related variables that may influence its incidence and severity. The study involved a 2-min mobile-platform car rollover simulation conducted in a group of 100 healthy adult participants. SS was measured with the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire immediately before and after the simulation. We investigated how the symptomatology of SS varies with gender, as well as with participants' previous experiences such as extra driving training or car accidents. Although many SS symptoms occurred already before the simulation, all the symptoms except burping had a significantly greater incidence and severity after the simulation. Before the simulation, men reported disorientation symptoms more often than women, while participants with prior experiences of extra driving training or car accidents scored significantly higher in three out of four Questionnaire components: nausea symptoms, oculomotor symptoms, and the total score. The study offers interesting insights into associations between SS and prior experiences observed by means of high-fidelity real-motion simulations. More research is needed to determine the nature of these associations and their potential usefulness, for example, in helping accident survivors to cope with the distressing or even potentially disabling psychological consequences of accidents.
Keywords: car accidents; driving simulator; physical motion; previous experiences; road safety; simulator sickness.