Carsickness Therapy Based on Brain–Computer Interface Enhanced Mindfulness Meditation Training

Summary

A wearable mindfulness meditation brain–computer interface (MM-BCI) system was tested in a 10-week randomized controlled trial involving 60 individuals susceptible to carsickness. Participants using the MM-BCI reported significantly reduced carsickness severity compared to those receiving sham feedback, both immediately after the intervention and at a one-month follow-up. Additionally, neural changes associated with mindfulness practice were linked to symptom improvement. This suggests that BCI-enhanced mindfulness meditation may be an effective non-drug treatment for carsickness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Carsickness impairs comfort and affects a large proportion of the population. However, interventions that provide a therapeutic solution to carsickness have yet to be established. Here we introduce a wearable mindfulness meditation brain–computer interface (MM-BCI) system as a closed-loop training therapy for carsickness. The system records electroencephalographic activity, decodes meditative state in real time and delivers audiovisual neurofeedback to scaffold meditation practice. In a 10-week randomized controlled trial, 60 individuals susceptible to carsickness were assigned to practice mindfulness meditation with either real-time MM-BCI neurofeedback or sham feedback, both during real-world car riding and at home. Critically, pre-intervention, post-intervention, and one-month follow-up assessments of carsickness severity were conducted during regular car riding without any task or feedback system. Relative to the sham group, the MM-BCI group showed significantly reduced carsickness severity at post-intervention and follow-up. At baseline, carsickness-susceptible participants exhibited a reduced aperiodic exponent in occipito-parietal cortex relative to non-susceptible controls, identifying a candidate neural signature of carsickness susceptibility. MM-BCI training increased this exponent toward non-susceptible levels, and the magnitude of this neural normalization was associated with the degree of symptom improvement. This study provides the first demonstration that BCI-enhanced mindfulness meditation can induce promising treatment effect on carsickness, offering a transformative non-pharmacological approach to enhance passenger well-being in everyday transit.