Behavioral Research Blog

Mice in the spotlight: why you should perform your tests in a home cage

Mouse models are essential for neuroscience research. Many tests are susceptible to bias. Home cage testing provides a number of solutions.

How you can efficiently screen for plant resistance to aphids

Aphids are small insects that pierce plant leaves and suck out their contents. Although they inflict limited physical destruction to the plant, aphids commonly infect plants with viruses, which can destroy complete harvests.

Revealing the secret social role of the CA2 hippocampus

Aggressive behavior is adaptive for most species. But how is this aggressive behavior mediated in the brain? A study indicates that the hippocampus is a crucial neural component in mediating social recognition.

Behavioral effects of optogenetically induced myelination in mice

Myelination, the ‘ensheathment’ of neurons, is essential to the functioning of the central and peripheral nervous systems. So it is not surprising that problems with myelination can lead to a number of crippling diseases.

How to measure a zebrafish larva’s highly stereotyped response to water motion?

At the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, Groneberg and colleagues researched one of the neural bases for behavior in Danio rerio.

Examples of infant behavior research experiments

In infancy you can observe an explosive growth. A lot of researchers focus on this age group and observe parent-infant dyads to get more insight in specific behaviors.

Movement analysis in volleyball

Researchers from Aix-Marseille Université and the University of Groningen analyzed match plays to gain insight into the whole-body and arm movements.

How to study ataxia

Ataxia is a common problem in Parkinson’s disease (PD), and many early onset Alzheimer’s disease patients (AD) also deal with it. Now there is a non-invasive test for mouse models.

Behavioral techniques to empower consumers: resisting persuasion by controlling

The role of facial expression in resisting enjoyable advertisements.

Bonobos not always as tolerant as generally believed: the plot thickens…

In Planckendael Wild Animal Park (Belgium), researchers have been observing a group of bonobos and have found that the differences between chimpanzees and bonobos are not always as black and white as generally believed.

The man in the maze: A behavioral science journey into consumer studies

As a researcher, one of my biggest thrills was being able to predict how someone was going to behave, especially without asking him or her.

A new method to evaluate if dogs are suitable for IED bomb detection

Margaret Gruen and her colleagues recently investigated a new method to assess sound induced fear and anxiety in candidate IED-detection dogs – specifically, Labrador retrievers.