Motion and space sickness: Intestinal and autonomic correlates
Section snippets
The motion sickness syndrome
Motion sickness can occur in response to real or apparent motion. When motion sickness occurs in response to real motion, it is often labelled with the related vehicle or situation to more specifically identify the ailment, e.g., car sickness, air sickness, sea sickness, space sickness, etc.
Apparent motion refers to a situation in which the individual is stationary, but motion in the visual field causes the individual to experience an illusion of motion. Apparent motion can occur in rotating
General autonomic components of motion sickness
The autonomic nervous system has afferent and efferent pathways to the organ systems of the body that help serve as a feed-back and feed-forward system to control internal states. In general, the parasympathetic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system work reciprocally, with increasing parasympathetic nervous system and decreasing sympathetic nervous system activity tending to reduce activity of organ systems, and decreasing parasympathetic nervous system and increasing sympathetic
General gastrointestinal components of motion sickness
Because symptoms of nausea, stomach discomfort, the feeling of imminent vomiting, and sometimes actual vomiting are often associated with motion sickness, it is difficult to refute that the gastrointestinal system has a role in motion sickness. The majority of such research has focused on the role the stomach plays in motion sickness. Nonetheless, all components of the gastrointestinal system may have some involvement.
Putting it all together: the autonomic–gastrointestinal cascade during motion sickness
Stern (2002) proposed a model of nausea in response to exposure to an optokinetic drum stimulus that may have applicability to the autonomic and gastrointestinal cascade during the general syndrome of motion sickness generated by any given stimulus. Stern's (2002) model is shown in Fig. 1. The model proposes that a visual–vestibular mismatch leads to an increase in sympathetic nervous system activity and decrease in parasympathetic nervous system activity. These autonomic nervous system changes
Open questions and future directions
What is the relationship between specific focal symptoms or symptom clusters and the autonomic nervous system–gastrointestinal cascade? It is recommended that future motion sickness work examine motion sickness as a multi-dimensional syndrome and correlate the dimensions with the various physiological dependent measures. The Motion Sickness Assessment Questionnaire (Gianaros et al., 2001a) mentioned above is an excellent way to examine motion sickness as a syndrome but other approaches are
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2022, International Journal of PsychophysiologyCitation Excerpt :However, the VIMSSQ cannot predict if and when exactly an episode of VIMS will occur. On the other hand, VIMS and traditional MS can be considered emotional stressors that initiate physiological processes involving a complex cortical network (Cohen et al., 2019; Schmäl, 2013; Yates et al., 2014) and the stimulation of the autonomic nervous system (e.g., Cowings et al., 1986; Gianaros et al., 2003; Money, 1970; Muth, 2006). As such, an acute phase of VIMS/MS could result in certain physiological responses that are commonly observed during a stress response, such as increased heart rate or increased electrodermal activity (Grossman, 1983), anxiety, and release of the stress hormone cortisol into the bloodstream (Money et al., 1996).
Anti-cholinergics mecamylamine and scopolamine alleviate motion sickness-induced gastrointestinal symptoms through both peripheral and central actions
2019, NeuropharmacologyCitation Excerpt :SCOP in combination of dexamphetamine is also effective in alleviating core temperature reduction in humans exposed to Coriolis acceleration (Cheung et al., 2011), while MSCP can reverse hyperthermia caused by handling, cage switch, open field stress (Johnson Rowsey et al., 2002; Rowsey and Gordon, 2000). Moreover, our previous study showed that the increased afferent vagal activity correlated with emesis in humans during the voyage at sea (Wang et al., 2016), suggesting that MS-related decline in gastric motility and frequent tachygastria in electrogastrogram could be attributed to enhanced activity of the vagus nerve (Jokerst et al., 1999; Muth, 2006). Given these facts, we proposed that SCOP might regulate autonomic responses of MS partly through inhibition of peripheral mAchR signaling transduction most possibly in the postganglionic fibers of the parasympathetic system during MS. The finding that neuromuscular presynaptic muscarinic receptor inhibition significantly enhanced rocuronium-induced tetanic fade in diaphragm muscles after high frequency electrical stimulation of the phrenic nerve also suggests that the anti-emesis effects of SCOP and MSCP in cats could be partly attributed to presynaptic modulation of the release of acetylcholine in neuromuscular junction of diaphram during MS stimulation (Kim et al., 2017).
Motion sickness increases functional connectivity between visual motion and nausea-associated brain regions
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2015, Research in Veterinary ScienceCitation Excerpt :Many of the physiological responses associated with motion sickness are mediated by the ANS, including sympathetic nervous system activation and a general reduction in parasympathetic nervous system activity (apart from vagal participation). The exception to this rule is in the gastrointestinal system, where the ANS changes differ prior to and during vomiting as a result of parasympathetic nervous system activity and a reduction of stomach activity by the sympathetic system (Hasler, 2013; Muth, 2006; Uchino et al., 2001). Much of the change is associated with stress (Lackner, 2009).
Potential factors contributing to observed sex differences in virtual-reality-induced sickness
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