New software dedicated to virtual mazes for human cognitive investigations

Machado, Marie-Laure; Lefèvre, Nathalie; Philoxene, Bruno; Gall, Anne Le; Madeleine, Sophie; Fleury, Philippe; Smith, PJ; Besnard, Stéphane

doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.108388

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Together, these results validated DeFINE's capability as a tool for investigating goal-directed navigation in humans under a variety of conditions. Although similar frameworks have already been developed (Brookes et al, 2019;Commins et al, 2019;Machado et al, 2019;Vasser et al, 2017;Wiener et al, 2019), they are based on an open-loop stimulus-response architecture that omits performance feedback to participants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It also has potential to facilitate cross-species comparisons between humans and animals by making it easy to test different species in the same or equivalent environments (Commins et al, 2019;Machado et al, 2019). DEFINE 4 Previous attempts have been made at developing easy-to-use VR frameworks for researchers who are novice when it comes to graphics designing or using game engines like Unity3D.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, Vasser et al (2017) presented a framework called VREX, which allows for easy creation of indoor environments with single or multiple connected rooms populated with furniture. Another notable line of recent work is development of virtual environments (VEs) that are meant to translate standard maze environments in animal research (e.g., T-maze and Morris water maze; Morris, Garrud, Rawlins, & O'Keefe, 1982;Packard & McGaugh, 1996) to human navigation studies (Commins et al, 2019;Machado et al, 2019;Wiener et al, 2019) These frameworks solely depend on the stimulus-response causal relationship. That is, participants are presented with a stimulus with which they carry out a navigation response (e.g., walking to a goal location indicated by visual cues), and during and at the completion of the response, they do not receive any feedback on their performance.…”

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confidence: 99%

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DeFINE: Delayed Feedback based Immersive Navigation Environment for Studying Goal-Directed Human Navigation

Tiwari,

Kyrki,

Cheung

et al. 2020

Preprint

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With the advent of consumer-grade products for presenting an immersive virtual environment (VE), there is a growing interest in utilizing VEs for testing human navigation behavior.However, preparing a VE still requires a high level of technical expertise in computer graphics and virtual reality, posing a significant hurdle to embracing the emerging technology. To address this issue, this paper presents Delayed Feedback based Immersive Navigation Environment (DeFINE), a framework that allows for easy creation and administration of navigation tasks within customizable VEs via intuitive graphical user interfaces and simple settings files. Importantly, DeFINE has a built-in capability to provide performance feedback to participants during an experiment, a feature that is critically missing in other similar frameworks. To demonstrate the usability of DeFINE from both experimentalists' and participants' perspectives, a case study was conducted in which participants navigated to a hidden goal location with feedback that differentially weighted speed and accuracy of their responses. In addition, the participants evaluated DeFINE in terms of its ease of use, required workload, and proneness to induce cybersickness. Results showed that the participants' navigation performance was affected differently by the types of feedback they received, and they rated DeFINE highly in the evaluations, validating DeFINE's architecture for investigating human navigation in VEs. With its rich out-of-the-box functionality and great customizability due to open-source licensing, DeFINE makes VEs significantly more accessible to many researchers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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DeFINE: Delayed Feedback based Immersive Navigation Environment for Studying Goal-Directed Human Navigation

Tiwari,

Kyrki,

Cheung

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Targets appeared in 30% of the trials, i.e., 7 targets of 22 trials per parabola. The task was programmed and applied using the VRmaze software ( Machado et al, 2019 ), adapted and shortened according to the requirements and time constraints of the parabolic flight maneuver, and presented on a 15-inch laptop (ZBook 15 G5 Mobile Workstation, Hewlett Packard). Cognitive data were collected at the following points in time: (1) once during familiarization session on the day of arrival at Novespace; (2) on the flight day before and after scopolamine injection; (3) inflight at 1 g before experiencing the first parabola, during 0 g, and inflight at 1 g after the last parabola; and (4) post-flight ( Figure 1 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inflight-testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impaired Attentional Processing During Parabolic Flight

et al. 2021

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Previous studies suggest that altered gravity levels during parabolic flight maneuvers affect spatial updating. Little is known about the impact of the experimental setting and psychological stressors associated with parabolic flight experiments on attentional processes. To address this gap, we investigated the level of alertness, selective and sustained attention in 1 and 0 g using a Go/No-Go Continuous Performance Task. We also identified several parameters associated with the experimental set-up of a parabolic flight that could be expected to affect attentional processing. These included the use of scopolamine, sleep quality prior to the flight day, participant’s stress level as well as mood and anxiety state before and after the parabolic flight. We observed a deterioration in attentional processing prior to the first parabola that was further aggravated in weightlessness and returned to baseline after the last parabola. Reaction Time, Hit and False Alarm Rate were moderately correlated with self-reported anxiety state, but not cortisol levels or emotional states. The use of scopolamine had minor effects on Reaction Time. Our results confirm previous studies reporting impairments of cognitive performance in 0 g, and highlight important aspects that should be considered for the design of behavioral research experiments in future parabolic flight campaigns.

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Navigation strategies in patients with vestibular loss tested in a virtual reality T-maze

Gammeri

Léonard

Toupet³

et al. 2022

J Neurol

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During navigation, humans mainly rely on egocentric and allocentric spatial strategies, two different frames 37 of reference working together to build a coherent representation of the environment. Spatial memory deficits 38 during navigation have been repeatedly reported in patients with vestibular disorders. However, little is known 39 about how vestibular disorders can change the use of spatial navigation strategies. Here, we used a new reverse 40 T-maze paradigm in virtual reality to explore whether vestibular loss specifically modifies the use of egocentric 41 or allocentric spatial strategies in patients with unilateral (n = 23) and bilateral (n = 23) vestibular loss 42 compared to healthy volunteers matched for age, sex and education level (n = 23). Results showed that the 43 odds of selecting and using a specific strategy in the T-maze was significantly reduced in both unilateral and 44 bilateral vestibular loss. An exploratory analysis suggests that only right vestibular loss decreased the odds of 45 adopting a spatial strategy, indicating a functional asymmetry of vestibular functions. When considering 46patients who used strategies to navigate, we observed that a bilateral vestibular loss reduced the odds to use of 47 an allocentric strategy, whereas a unilateral vestibular loss decreased the odds to use of an egocentric strategy. 48Age was significantly associated with an overall lower chance to adopt a navigation strategy and, more 49 specifically, with a decrease in the odds of using an allocentric strategy. We did not observe any sex difference 50 in the ability to select and use a specific navigation strategy. Findings are discussed in light of previous studies 51 on visuo-spatial abilities and studies of vestibulo-hippocampal interactions in peripheral vestibular disorders. 52We discuss the potential impact of the history of the disease (chronic stage in patients with a bilateral 53 vestibulopathy vs. subacute stage in patients with a unilateral vestibular loss), of hearing impairment and non-54 specific attentional deficits in patients with vestibular disorders.

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New software dedicated to virtual mazes for human cognitive investigations

Cited by 14 publications

References 54 publications

DeFINE: Delayed Feedback based Immersive Navigation Environment for Studying Goal-Directed Human Navigation

DeFINE: Delayed Feedback based Immersive Navigation Environment for Studying Goal-Directed Human Navigation

Impaired Attentional Processing During Parabolic Flight

Navigation strategies in patients with vestibular loss tested in a virtual reality T-maze

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