A Virtual Reality Platform for Context-Dependent Cognitive Research in Rodents / 神经科学通报·英文版
Neuroscience Bulletin
; (6): 717-730, 2023.
Article
in English
| WPRIM (Western Pacific)
| ID: wpr-982418
Responsible library:
WPRO
ABSTRACT
Animal survival necessitates adaptive behaviors in volatile environmental contexts. Virtual reality (VR) technology is instrumental to study the neural mechanisms underlying behaviors modulated by environmental context by simulating the real world with maximized control of contextual elements. Yet current VR tools for rodents have limited flexibility and performance (e.g., frame rate) for context-dependent cognitive research. Here, we describe a high-performance VR platform with which to study contextual behaviors immersed in editable virtual contexts. This platform was assembled from modular hardware and custom-written software with flexibility and upgradability. Using this platform, we trained mice to perform context-dependent cognitive tasks with rules ranging from discrimination to delayed-sample-to-match while recording from thousands of hippocampal place cells. By precise manipulations of context elements, we found that the context recognition was intact with partial context elements, but impaired by exchanges of context elements. Collectively, our work establishes a configurable VR platform with which to investigate context-dependent cognition with large-scale neural recording.
Full text:
Available
Database:
WPRIM (Western Pacific)
Main subject:
Rodentia
/
Cognition
/
Recognition, Psychology
/
Virtual Reality
Limits:
Animals
Language:
English
Journal:
Neuroscience Bulletin
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article