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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT05308433

Cybersickness imAgiNg Olfactory Evocation

The aim of this study is to, using fMRI, compare brain activations during olfactory imagery induced by different visual supports (words, pictures, colors and colored arrangements) in healthy subjects.

This will allow us to choose the best olfactory imagery facilitator and to assess its effect on cybersickness.

Completed

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Key information

Conditions

Healthy

Age range

18 year–50 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

CHRU Nancy

Nancy, France

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • to be of French nationality who has always lived in metropolitan France;
  • to be right-handed person;
  • to be enrolled in a social security plan;
  • to be able to understand the instructions given;
  • to have underwent a pre-inclusion medical examination;
  • to give a written consent;
  • Person with a strong capacity for olfactory imagination: having obtained a score strictly below 2.5 on the fVOIQ olfactory imagination questionnaire.

Exclusion criteria

  • to have an inability to read French;
  • to be recognized as a synesthete;
  • to have a professional activity requires intense olfactory activity;
  • to have a partial or total loss of smell (hyposmia, anosmia);
  • to have qualitative smell disorders (carcosomia, hyperosmia, phantosmia, parosmia);
  • to have smell disorders of neurological, post-traumatic or neurodegenerative origin;
  • to have uncorrected or poorly corrected visual disturbances;
  • to have vestibular disorder diagnosed;
  • any contraindication to MR examination (active medical device, ferromagnetic foreign body, pregnancy, morbid obesity, claustrophobia, … );
  • subject under a measure of legal protection.

Treatment and study plan

Functional MRI

Device

The volunteer will have to imagine the smells evoked by different visual aids. This task will be carried out during 2 acquisition runs of about 10 minutes each. The volunteer should note (on a scale from 1 to 4) the pleasantness of the smell evoked.

Other names: fMRI

Virtual Reality: control

Other

The volunteer will be immersed in a virtual maritime environment with nauseating characteristics. In the center of the maritime scene, it will be visible the black outlines of a frame. Every minute, the volunteer will be asked to verbalize the level of his general condition via the Fast Motion Sickness Scale (1 to 20).

Other names: VR control

Virtual Reality: experimental

Other

The volunteer will be immersed in a virtual maritime environment with nauseating characteristics. The visual support inserted in the center of the virtual scene will be the one defined as being the most facilitator of the olfactory imagination during the fMRI examination. The volunteer will be asked to concentrate on the smell evoked by this support. Every minute, the volunteer will be asked to verbalize the level of his general condition via the Fast Motion Sickness Scale (1 to 20).

Other names: VR experimental

Primary outcomes

  1. Comparison of cerebral activations between the different supports mediating the olfactory imagination during the execution of the fMRI tasks.

    Time frame: Baseline (J0)

    The cerebral activations between the different supports mediating the olfactory imagination will be compared in terms of localization and intensity of the variations of the BOLD signal during the execution of the fMRI tasks.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Determination of the visual support allowing the strongest olfactory imagination during the fMRI by subjective evaluations using two 4-level Likert scales.

    Time frame: Baseline (J0)

    Subjective evaluations will be carried out using two 4-level Likert scales.

  2. Determination of the visual support allowing the strongest olfactory imagination during the fMRI test by the cerebral activations in areas recognized for their implications in the olfactory imagination.

    Time frame: Baseline (J0)

    The cerebral activations will be measured by the intensity of the variations of the BOLD signal during the execution of the fMRI tasks.

  3. Description of the evolution of the cardiac activity during olfactory imagination tasks in fMRI.

    Time frame: Baseline (J0)

    The cardiac activity will be evaluated by the R-wave interval. The cardiac activity will be recorded via the ECG during olfactory imagination tasks in fMRI.

  4. Description of the evolution of the respiratory activity during olfactory imagination tasks in fMRI.

    Time frame: Baseline (J0)

    The respiratory activity will be evaluated by the respiratory rate. The respiratory activity will be recorded via the respiratory belt during olfactory imagination tasks in fMRI.

  5. Evaluation of the state of discomfort in virtual reality by measuring the cardiac activity.

    Time frame: Baseline (J0) and 6 months maximum after J0 (V1)

    Cardiac activity will be evaluated by the R-wave interval. Cardiac activity during immersion will be recorded by the cardio-respiratory belt.

  6. Evaluation of the state of discomfort in virtual reality by the "Simulator Sickness Questionnaire" (SSQ) before and after immersion.

    Time frame: Baseline (J0) and 6 months maximum after J0 (V1)

    The participant will answer to the "Simulator Sickness Questionnaire" (SSQ) before and after immersion (minimum=0 and maximum=235,62). A higher score means a more severe discomfort.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Central Hospital, Nancy, France

Other

Registry information

Acronym: CANOE

Important dates

Study start
2022
Primary completion
2022
Study completion
2022
First posted
Apr 4, 2022
Registry last updated
Jun 15, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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