A Preliminary Development of the Morris Maze Procedure in Virtual Reality

Jesús Moreno, Juan M. Jurado, José E. Callejas-Aguilera, J. Roberto Jiménez-Pérez

2022

Abstract

The Morris Water Maze (MWM) has become one of the most widely used laboratory tools in behavioural neuroscience. It has been used in some of the most sophisticated experiments in the study of spatial learning and memory with animals. However, human-based studies have been very limited due to the use of unrealistic scenarios, usually presented on a computer screen where participants’ attention is poorly controlled. Recent advances in virtual reality (VR) enable the generation of 3D environments with a high level of realism and user’s immersion. The user’s attention plays a key role in spatial learning. Current VR systems integrate eye-tracking devices to measure the user’s attention over virtual entities. In this paper, we present an easy-to-use game-based simulator of the MWM, using eye-tracking VR technology to extract information about the user’s attention. This research still in progress has achieved important hints according to the design of the virtual scenario, user interaction and experimentation. The study conducted in this paper validates the technology as a novel way to perform MWM focused on spatial learning and memory with human participants.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Moreno J., Jurado J., Callejas-Aguilera J. and Jiménez-Pérez J. (2022). A Preliminary Development of the Morris Maze Procedure in Virtual Reality. In Proceedings of the 17th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISIGRAPP 2022) - Volume 1: GRAPP; ISBN 978-989-758-555-5, SciTePress, pages 260-267. DOI: 10.5220/0010897500003124

in Bibtex Style

@conference{grapp22,
author={Jesús Moreno and Juan M. Jurado and José E. Callejas-Aguilera and J. Roberto Jiménez-Pérez},
title={A Preliminary Development of the Morris Maze Procedure in Virtual Reality},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 17th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISIGRAPP 2022) - Volume 1: GRAPP},
year={2022},
pages={260-267},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0010897500003124},
isbn={978-989-758-555-5},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 17th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISIGRAPP 2022) - Volume 1: GRAPP
TI - A Preliminary Development of the Morris Maze Procedure in Virtual Reality
SN - 978-989-758-555-5
AU - Moreno J.
AU - Jurado J.
AU - Callejas-Aguilera J.
AU - Jiménez-Pérez J.
PY - 2022
SP - 260
EP - 267
DO - 10.5220/0010897500003124
PB - SciTePress