Hey everyone! So, for quite some time, researchers have been using animal behavioral paradigms like the Morris Water Maze (MWM) to study how animals learn and remember things in their environment. But translating those findings to humans can be a bit of a challenge due to differences in brain structure and behavior. Guess what? Virtual reality (VR) offers an exciting solution to replicate these paradigms in humans!

With VR, researchers can create amazing virtual environments that resemble the spatial layouts of animal mazes, allowing them to test human participants’ spatial learning and memory. Participants can have a blast navigating these environments using VR headsets and handheld controllers, while their behavior is tracked using state-of-the-art motion capture technology.

One of the coolest advantages of using VR is the ability to control and manipulate the environment. Researchers can easily change the environment’s layout, complexity, and spatial cues to test various hypotheses and experimental conditions. Plus, they can use VR to create super realistic environments, like real-world buildings or cities, to study spatial cognition in humans.

HVS Image, a top provider of video tracking solutions for animal behavioral research, has also developed an incredible VR-based platform for studying spatial learning and memory in humans. Their cutting-edge 6D VR platform enables researchers to design and create custom VR environments and track participants’ behavior with remarkable precision and accuracy. The platform even offers a range of quantitative measures, like path length and escape latency, to assess spatial learning and memory in humans.

Replicating animal behavioral paradigms in humans using VR is a super promising approach to studying spatial learning and memory in humans. The ability to create lifelike and controlled environments, combined with high-precision tracking technology, makes VR an extraordinary tool for researchers in this exciting field.

References:
Trettel, J., Klein, B., & Feinstein, S. (2019). Quantitative improvements in the Morris water maze task using an ultra-high precision computer-controlled platform. Behavioural brain research, 360, 239-245.
Fernández-Ruiz, A., Oliva, A., Naghavi, H. R., Araque, A., & Chadderton, P. (2021). Virtual reality in neuroscience research: A review of methods and applications. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 69, 153-160.
Dahlquist, L. M., & McKenna, K. Y. (2020). Virtual reality and spatial cognition: A review of research and future directions. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 32, 66-74.