Behavioral Research Blog

How to find an animal model for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

We all show some form of compulsive behavior. I triple check to make sure I locked my car, knowing that it’s locked but still feeling the need. But what if compulsions, rituals, and repetition rule your everyday live?

Can a food preservative increase symptoms of autism?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has a strong genetic component – a well-known fact. However, recent studies suggest that environmental factors, such as dietary ingredients, can cause exacerbation of the symptoms.

Walking in circles - the exploratory activity of Drosophila

Like rats and mice, fruit flies avoid open spaces and stay close to physical borders. In rats and mice this is caused by fear to be out in the open and preference for close contact with borders.

Parent-child interaction: Measuring the effectiveness of interactions

Quality of parent-child interaction is one of the major predictors of emotional and social development of children, which makes parent-child interaction an important focus of child development research.

How to know if an animal is nauseated

Nausea is a prominent factor influencing the quality of life for patients undergoing chemotherapy. That is why it is useful to study the nauseating side effects of therapies or the anti-nauseating potential of drugs.

Zebrafish and withdrawal

Recent work done by Khor et al. (2011) looked at the effect of mitragynine on behavior in zebrafish going through withdrawal after chronic morphine exposure. The effects of Mitragynine on morphine-withdrawn zebrafish.

Three ways to test hallucinogens on zebrafish

Hallucinogenic drugs (psychedelics) have a growing significance in biopsychiatric research. Zebrafish are a popular animal model and seem highly sensitive to various drugs of abuse.

Bed bug behavior - What smell can tell

Bed bugs are on the rebound in developed countries. Traditionally, bed bugs are controlled with pesticides. However, traps with attractive human body odors are a promising alternative.

The search for robust fear inducing stimuli in zebrafish research

Zebrafish behavioral research has grown by leaps and bounds, and behavioral paradigms are being developed with the aim of better understanding mechanisms that might underlie aberrant behavioral phenotypes.

Clinical interviews – analyzing verbal and non-verbal behavior

In general, researchers choose the methods and techniques that best suit their research objectives. That’s no different when researching doctor-patient communication or any other clinical interview setting.

Zebrafish research: growing demands in South America

It was at the Society for Neuroscience last November that I was invited to speak at the second annual LAZEN meeting held last December in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Three examples of swimming rats in traumatic brain injury research (TBI)

The Morris water maze and EthoVision, a validated solution to investigate learning and memory in rats and mice.