Digital actuality platform developed for context-dependent cognitive analysis in rodents

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In a study published online in Neuroscience Bulletin, researchers at Dr. Xu Chun and Dr. Wen Yunqing of the Institute of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and her collaborators developed a high-performance virtual reality (VR) platform composed of modular hardware and custom-written software with upgradeability, providing a more economical and provides a more flexible tool for context-dependent cognitive research in rodents.

In daily activities, animals must respond appropriately to different environmental contexts. It is important to study the contextual cognitive process because it is closely related to aspects of behavior. The environmental context consists of various individual elements and is enriched with multi-sensory information. Therefore, it poses great challenges to control the context elements quantitatively and to switch quickly between different contexts.

VR technology is instrumental in studying neural mechanisms underlying environmental context-modulated behaviors by simulating the real world with maximized control of contextual elements while being compatible with head-fixed neural recordings.

Researchers designed a powerful VR platform, and its main hardware structure included six curved screens, a styrofoam cylinder, a motion detector, the neural activity recording device, and peripheral function modules that could be assembled according to the experimental needs. Fast display switching and interactive immersive VR experience were achieved through multi-threaded processing of position detection, real-time screen updating, peripheral triggering and mouse behavior parameters through custom-written software.

Using this VR platform, researchers trained mice to perform context-sensitive cognitive tasks with rules ranging from discrimination to delayed sample-to-match while recording thousands of hippocampal place cells.

Compared to previous experimental VR devices, the VR platform developed in this study is flexible, widely applicable, inexpensive, and easy to use. Its lightweight software and expandable hardware modules can be assembled according to the needs of various experimental tasks.

This study tentatively examines the role of elements in the context recognition process and establishes a more convenient VR platform to study contextual cognition with large-scale neural recording.

More information:
Xue-Tong Qu et al., A Virtual Reality Platform for Context-Dependent Cognitive Research in Rodents, Neuroscience Bulletin (2022). DOI: 10.1007/s12264-022-00964-0 Provided by the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Citation: Virtual Reality Platform Developed for Contextual Cognitive Research in Rodents (2022 November 11) Retrieved November 11, 2022 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-11-virtual-reality-platform-context- dependent-cognitive. html

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