When fish swim in the holodeck

Behavior experiments are useful tools to study brain function. Standard experiments to investigate behavior in popular lab animals such as fish, flies or mice however only incompletely mimic natural conditions. The understanding of behavior and brain function is thus limited. Virtual Reality (VR) helps in generating a more natural experimental environment but requires immobilization of the animal, disrupting sensorimotor experience and causing altered neuronal and behavioral responses. Researchers at the University of Freiburg, and the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL), a joint venture of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna, in collaboration with groups at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) and the MPI for Ornithology in Konstanz, have now developed a VR system for freely moving animals - FreemoVR - to overcome most of these limitations. Their findings are now published . From behavior to brain function A person sees another person and depending on the context very different interactions can take place. The final outcome after the initial visual experience is a result of complex interactions of neurons in different brain regionsprocesses that are still very little understood. To study the neuronal basis underlying behavior, scientists have developed a broad range of techniques, most of which require either the partial or full immobilization of the animal. This restricts sensory input and feedback and ultimately changes the neuronal and behavioral responses. In addition, mimicking natural conditions in a laboratory is difficult. A three-dimensional, reactive, computer-controlled world for moving animals