Virtual Reality as an Experimentation Tool for Neuroscience
virtual reality; virtual environments; neuroscience experimentation; spatial navigation; learning; embodied cognition; neurorehabilitation.
Virtual Reality (VR) has become a mainstream tool for experimentation in neuroscience with various applications in multiple areas. Through the immersion of the subjects in a multisensory simulation, VR empowers the experimenters with easy manipulation and control of the experimental protocols and the possibility to design experiences unbounded by the laws of physics. Moreover, simulations can be presented to a constrained subject, allowing the use of neural data capture tools that would not be available otherwise. Setting up those simulations at first, however, can be a complicated task. Even when the experimenters already know what kind of experience
they are aiming to create, they still need to find the adequate equipment to immerse the subject in the simulation, while also providing an accurate enough virtual environment (VE), containing all the information needed for the experience. This decision requires knowledge of the available pieces of equipment and sometimes, especially for non-human subjects, the development of new ones. In this review, our goal is to explore the work that researchers are doing with VR as an experimentation tool for neuroscientists experimenting on both humans and other animals. We present some core VR concepts and equipment along with their use on neuroscience experiments. After that, we discuss some applications of VR on four specific areas of neuroscience - navigation, learning and memory, embodied cognition and neurorehabilitation. Finally, we discuss potential new research on those areas, along with possible new developments.