Generalization of tolerance to motion environments.

The aim of the present investigation was to determine to what extent training tolerance to one motion stimulus would generalize other motion experiences. Twenty subjects prone to motion sickness were selected and assigned to one of four groups after pretesting in a Dichgans and Brandt drum to determine their susceptibility to visually-induced apparent motion. They were also pretested with a VDT display of an expanding surface, and on a revolving/tilting chair. Subjects were assigned to one of the four groups by matching their mean tolerance to visually-induced motion. Subjects in the first group served as controls and received only cognitive counseling regarding their ability to tolerate motion environments. Subjects in the other groups received the same counseling coupled with incremental exposures to the drum, chair, or VDT, respectively. Posttests on each apparatus revealed that the treatments involving the chair and the drum provided specific increases in tolerance to the device used during treatment, and that the treatment involving the chair provided a generalized tolerance to visually-induced motion. These results support the notion that there are both specific and general components in learning to tolerate motion environments.