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A fast and flexible panoramic virtual reality system for behavioural and electrophysiological experiments

Ideally, neuronal functions would be studied by performing experiments with unconstrained animals whilst they behave in their natural environment. Although this is not feasible currently for most animal models, one can mimic the natural environment in the laboratory by using a virtual reality (VR) e...

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Autores principales: Takalo, Jouni, Piironen, Arto, Honkanen, Anna, Lempeä, Mikko, Aikio, Mika, Tuukkanen, Tuomas, Vähäsöyrinki, Mikko
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3310229/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22442752
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep00324
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author Takalo, Jouni
Piironen, Arto
Honkanen, Anna
Lempeä, Mikko
Aikio, Mika
Tuukkanen, Tuomas
Vähäsöyrinki, Mikko
author_facet Takalo, Jouni
Piironen, Arto
Honkanen, Anna
Lempeä, Mikko
Aikio, Mika
Tuukkanen, Tuomas
Vähäsöyrinki, Mikko
author_sort Takalo, Jouni
collection PubMed
description Ideally, neuronal functions would be studied by performing experiments with unconstrained animals whilst they behave in their natural environment. Although this is not feasible currently for most animal models, one can mimic the natural environment in the laboratory by using a virtual reality (VR) environment. Here we present a novel VR system based upon a spherical projection of computer generated images using a modified commercial data projector with an add-on fish-eye lens. This system provides equidistant visual stimulation with extensive coverage of the visual field, high spatio-temporal resolution and flexible stimulus generation using a standard computer. It also includes a track-ball system for closed-loop behavioural experiments with walking animals. We present a detailed description of the system and characterize it thoroughly. Finally, we demonstrate the VR system’s performance whilst operating in closed-loop conditions by showing the movement trajectories of the cockroaches during exploratory behaviour in a VR forest.
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spelling pubmed-33102292012-03-22 A fast and flexible panoramic virtual reality system for behavioural and electrophysiological experiments Takalo, Jouni Piironen, Arto Honkanen, Anna Lempeä, Mikko Aikio, Mika Tuukkanen, Tuomas Vähäsöyrinki, Mikko Sci Rep Article Ideally, neuronal functions would be studied by performing experiments with unconstrained animals whilst they behave in their natural environment. Although this is not feasible currently for most animal models, one can mimic the natural environment in the laboratory by using a virtual reality (VR) environment. Here we present a novel VR system based upon a spherical projection of computer generated images using a modified commercial data projector with an add-on fish-eye lens. This system provides equidistant visual stimulation with extensive coverage of the visual field, high spatio-temporal resolution and flexible stimulus generation using a standard computer. It also includes a track-ball system for closed-loop behavioural experiments with walking animals. We present a detailed description of the system and characterize it thoroughly. Finally, we demonstrate the VR system’s performance whilst operating in closed-loop conditions by showing the movement trajectories of the cockroaches during exploratory behaviour in a VR forest. Nature Publishing Group 2012-03-22 /pmc/articles/PMC3310229/ /pubmed/22442752 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep00324 Text en Copyright © 2012, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareALike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
spellingShingle Article
Takalo, Jouni
Piironen, Arto
Honkanen, Anna
Lempeä, Mikko
Aikio, Mika
Tuukkanen, Tuomas
Vähäsöyrinki, Mikko
A fast and flexible panoramic virtual reality system for behavioural and electrophysiological experiments
title A fast and flexible panoramic virtual reality system for behavioural and electrophysiological experiments
title_full A fast and flexible panoramic virtual reality system for behavioural and electrophysiological experiments
title_fullStr A fast and flexible panoramic virtual reality system for behavioural and electrophysiological experiments
title_full_unstemmed A fast and flexible panoramic virtual reality system for behavioural and electrophysiological experiments
title_short A fast and flexible panoramic virtual reality system for behavioural and electrophysiological experiments
title_sort fast and flexible panoramic virtual reality system for behavioural and electrophysiological experiments
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3310229/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22442752
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep00324
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