Visuomotor behaviours in marmosets studied with virtual reality

Primates use visual motion information to capture prey or objects, or to detect and flee from danger. Until now, these visuomotor transformations have been studied under simplified, unnatural conditions. By combining technologies for automatic posture detection and simulation of natural visual scenes, a new neuro-ethological approach aims to study these transformations in a more “naturalistic” framework, with a view to identifying the visuomotor elements of animals’ natural repertoire. MarmoVR is a virtual reality device enabling this approach in the marmoset monkey. The project aims to build an experimental visuomotor capture paradigm involving dynamic orientation of the head and whole body in response to interactive 3D natural stimuli, such as different prey items in the natural environment. This initial approach will enable us to use MarmoVR to build paradigms that are both controlled and induce natural responses, so that we can study the neural bases of these 3D orientation and capture behaviors in the future.

Knowledge of and interest in the study of animal behavior. Basic knowledge of data processing (statistics, Python/R programming) and interest in new technologies in neuro-ethology and neuroscience.

The M2 internship will take place at the Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, on the health campus. The experiments will take place on the Joseph Aiguier site (CNRS), where the colonies are located. The intern will be supervised by Manuel Vidal and Guillaume Masson (INVIBE team). The INVIBE team is an interdisciplinary team working on visuomotor behaviors related to cognitive processes such as attention and decision-making. It comprises 5 CNRS researchers working on rodents, non-human primates and humans. We use different levels of approach, from behavior to functional exploration (MRI, cellular imaging, electrophysiology, etc.).