DomeVR: Immersive virtual reality for primates and rodents

Abstract

Immersive virtual reality (VR) environments are a powerful tool to explore cognitive processes ranging from memory and navigation to visual processing and decision making—and to do so in a naturalistic yet controlled setting. As such, they have been employed across different species, and by a diverse range of research groups. Unfortunately, designing and implementing behavioral tasks in such environments often proves complicated. To tackle this challenge, we created DomeVR, an immersive VR environment built using Unreal Engine 4 (UE4). UE4 is a powerful game engine supporting photo-realistic graphics and containing a visual scripting language designed for use by non-programmers. As a result, virtual environments are easily created using drag-and-drop elements. DomeVR aims to make these features accessible to neuroscience experiments. This includes a logging and synchronization system to solve timing uncertainties inherent in UE4; an interactive GUI for scientists to observe subjects during experiments and adjust task parameters on the fly, and a dome projection system for full task immersion in non-human subjects. These key features are modular and can easily be added individually into other UE4 projects. Finally, we present proof-of-principle data highlighting the functionality of DomeVR in three different species: human, macaque and mouse.