The core idea in an XR (VR/MR/AR) application is to digitally stimulate one or more sensory systems (e.g. visual, auditory, olfactory) of the human user in an interactive way to achieve an immersive experience. Since the early 2000s biologists have been using Virtual Environments (VE) to investigate the mechanisms of behavior in non-human animals including insect, fish, and mammals. VEs have become reliable tools for studying vision, cognition, and sensory-motor control in animals. In turn, the knowledge gained from studying such behaviors can be harnessed by researchers designing biologically inspired robots, smart sensors, and multi-agent artificial intelligence. VE for animals is becoming a widely used application of XR technology but such applications have not previously been reported in the technical literature related to XR. Biologists and computer scientists can benefit greatly from deepening interdisciplinary research in this emerging field and together we can develop new methods for conducting fundamental research in behavioral sciences and engineering. To support our argument we present this review which provides an overview of animal behavior experiments conducted in virtual environments.

中文翻译：

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虚拟环境中的动物

XR（VR/MR/AR）应用的核心思想是以交互方式数字化刺激人类用户的一个或多个感官系统（例如视觉、听觉、嗅觉），以实现身临其境的体验。自 2000 年代初以来，生物学家一直在使用虚拟环境 (VE) 来研究非人类动物（包括昆虫、鱼类和哺乳动物）的行为机制。VE 已成为研究动物视觉、认知和感觉运动控制的可靠工具。反过来，研究人员可以利用从研究此类行为中获得的知识来设计受生物启发的机器人、智能传感器和多智能体人工智能。用于动物的 VE 正在成为 XR 技术的广泛应用，但以前在与 XR 相关的技术文献中尚未报道此类应用。生物学家和计算机科学家可以从这一新兴领域深化跨学科研究中受益匪浅，我们可以共同开发开展行为科学和工程基础研究的新方法。为了支持我们的论点，我们提出了这篇评论，它概述了在虚拟环境中进行的动物行为实验。