The relationship between cybersickness and eye-activity in response to varying speed, scene complexity and stereoscopic VR parameters

Eye trackers are non-invasive devices that can be integrated into VR head-mounted displays and the data they seamlessly provide can be instrumental in mitigating cybersickness. However, the connection of eye-activity cybersickness has not been studied in a broad sense, where the effects of different VR content factors causing cybersickness are examined together. Addressing this gap, we present an extensive investigation of the relationship between eye-activity and cybersickness in response to three major cybersickness factors - navigation speed, scene complexity and stereoscopic rendering - simulated in varied severity. Our findings reveal multiple links between several eye-activity features and user-reported discomfort reports, the most significant of which are associated with speed levels, highlighting the relationship between feeling of vection and eye-activity. The evaluation also established significant differences in eye-activity response with different stimulus types and time spent in VR, suggesting an accumulation effect. Furthermore, the regression analysis hints that blink frequency can be utilized as a significant predictor of cybersickness, regardless of time spent VR.