Behavioral Research Blog

Studying spatial learning and memory with Cincinnati Water Maze

Studying spatial learning and memory is important to develop treatment for Alzheimer's and other diseases influencing on orientation and navigation. One way to study it is with Cincinnati Water Maze.

What can you use eye tracking for?

Eye tracking is a technique which records what you are looking at. With more complex analysis, it can give all sorts of information about a subject's mental state.

The relationship between social hierarchy and social stress

Today, Deepika Patel kindly shares her research on social structures with us. She investigated rat behavior in detail, using several test paradigms.

Measuring the intensity of emotional response to political advertisement videos

To convince voters, all kinds of strategies can be used to stimulate the electorate. Researcher Dias and his team evaluated how voters respond to changes in the scenario of videos of political propaganda.

A to Z on optogenetics and video tracking studies

Optogenetics allow researchers to either activate or inhibit neurons in the brain. To see how this affects behavior, you need to record that behavior and synchronize it with the stimulation. Here's how.

The role of facial expression of emotion in joint activities

How does emotion expression guide interactive value learning and interactive corrective action selection? Dr. Robert Lowe investigated this and shares his findings in this guest blog post.

Discussing uncertainty during cancer genetic counseling

Getting screened preventively to find out whether a genetic predisposition increases the chance of developing cancer, causes great uncertainty. Which communication manners help to deal with this?

Studying shrimp feeding behavior and why it’s important for aquaculture

Shrimp is a popular dish, and these crustaceans are a very large part of commercial aquaculture. Especially Pacific white-leg shrimp, as they grow fast and are able to adapt to a wide range of environments.

Father’s genes affect their offspring’s future success

The early life environment of male bank voles can influence their offspring significantly. Both social stress and nutrient supply have an effect on the chances of survival for two generations.

Screening insecticides for efficacy or tolerance

Maarten Jongsma and colleagues use EntoLab to detect changes in insect behavior that provide a sensitive method for identifying and quantifying resistance development. They tested this approach with pyrethrins against aphids.

High-throughput screening of beneficial insects

Jessica de Bruijn used EntoLab for automated high-throughput screening of parasitic wasps in individual olfactory 2-choice tests. Various behavioral parameters were measured to compute a memory retention index.

Identification of an aphid resistance gene in Arabidopsis

Karen Kloth used EntoLab in her research on the genetic basis of plant resistance to aphids. Genome-wide association mapping of aphid behavior on 350 natural Arabidopsis accessions led to the discovery of a new gene.