VR Glasses for Mice
Scientists at Northwestern University in the USA have developed tiny VR glasses specifically for mice. These are not a gadget, but are intended to provide a useful tool for pioneering brain research.
In recent years, scientists studying mouse behaviour and brain activity have tended to create "Big Brother" situations. To immerse the animals in a virtual environment, they have been surrounded by screens and watched by cameras.
As well as being large and awkward, however, these set-ups were not really very effective. The mice needed a lot of training beforehand, because they were still able to see the laboratory beyond the screens, so they could easily detect that the study was artificial. Mice need to be trained to pay attention to the screens and ignore the lab.
Mouse-sized VR equipment
A team of scientists has now eliminated this problem: they have developed mouse-sized VR glasses. The new invention is called Miniature Rodent Stereo Illumination VR, or iMRSIV. The VR system consists of two lenses with two screens behind them. These apparatus is suspended above a miniature treadmill in a special holder. When the mouse gets onto the treadmill, one of the lenses is in front of each of its eyes, so the creature thinks it is really in the digital environment.
Image: Dom Pinke
From above
This new technology eliminates another problem too: it is now possible to experiment with images of something coming down towards the mouse from above. This could not be done previously because the area above the mouse was exactly where recording equipment needed to be. However, the upper part of the rodents' visual field is very sensitive, because that is where predators such as owls first “come into view”.
It is difficult to research the brain activity that occurs in the wild on these occasions, but it can now be done in the lab with the help of VR glasses. For example, in one of their sessions, the scientists displayed a dark disc at the top of the screens that gradually became larger. The mice immediately responded to this by either running faster or freezing.
Brain research
The researchers are also hoping to learn something about our own brains by looking at how mouse brains respond to different types of situations. Thanks to the mouse VR system we can now test a wide range of situations in the most realistic way possible. Researchers expect this to lead to ground-breaking discoveries.
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