Behavioral neuroscience

Psychobiology redirects here. For the journal, see

Cognitive, Aective, & Behavioral Neuroscience.
Biological psychology redirects here. For the journal,
see Biological Psychology (journal).
For related topics, see Aective neuroscience, Behavioral
neurology, Cognitive neuroscience, Neuropsychiatry,
Neuropsychology, and Social neuroscience.

was distrusted by the dominant anatomists of the 18th and

19th centuries.[5] The inuential work of Claude Bernard,
Charles Bell, and William Harvey helped to convince the
scientic community that reliable data could be obtained
from living subjects.
Even before the 18th and 19th century, behavioral neuroscience was beginning to take form as far back as 1700
B.C.[6] The question that seems to continually arise is
what is the connection between the mind and body. The
debate is formally referred to as the Mind-body problem.
There are two major schools of thought that attempt to
resolve the mindbody problem; monism and dualism.[3]
Plato and Aristotle are two of several philosophers who
participated in this debate. Plato believed that the brain
was where all mental thought and processes happened.[6]
In contrast, Aristotle believed that the brain served the
purpose of cooling down the emotions derived from the
heart.[3] The Mind-body problem was a stepping stone
toward attempting to understand the connection between
the mind and body.

Behavioral neuroscience, also known as biological psychology,[1] biopsychology, or psychobiology[2] is the

application of the principles of biology (in particular
neurobiology), to the study of physiological, genetic, and
developmental mechanisms of behavior in humans and
non-human animals. It typically investigates at the level
of neurons, neurotransmitters, brain circuitry and the basic biological processes that underlie normal and abnormal behavior. Often, experiments in behavioral neuroscience involve non-human animal models (such as rats
and mice, and non-human primates) which have implications for better understanding of human pathology and
therefore contribute to evidence-based practice.
Another debate arose about was localization of
function or Functional specialization (brain) versus
equipotentiality which played a signicant role in the
development in behavioral neuroscience. As a result of
1 History
localization of function research, many famous people
found within psychology have come to various dierent
Behavioral neuroscience as a scientic discipline conclusions. Wilder Peneld was able to develop a map
emerged from a variety of scientic and philosophical of the cerebral cortex through studying epileptic patients
traditions in the 18th and 19th centuries. In philosophy, along with Rassmussen.[3] Research on localization of
people like Ren Descartes proposed physical models function has led behavioral neuroscientist to a better
to explain animal and human behavior. Descartes, for understanding of which parts of the brain control
example, suggested that the pineal gland, a midline behavior. This is best exemplied through the case study
unpaired structure in the brain of many organisms, was of Phineas Gage.
the point of contact between mind and body. Descartes
The term psychobiology has been used in a variety of
also elaborated on a theory in which the pneumatics
contexts,emphasizing the importance of biology, which
of bodily uids could explain reexes and other motor
is the discipline that studies organic, neural and cellular
behavior. This theory was inspired by moving statues in
modications in behavior, plasticity in neuroscience, and
a garden in Paris.[3]
biological deceases in all aspects, in addition, biology foOther philosophers also helped give birth to psychology. cuses and analyzes behavior and all the subjects it is conOne of the earliest textbooks in the new eld, The Princi- cerned about, from a scientic point of view. In this conples of Psychology by William James (1890), argues that text, psychology helps as a complementary, but importhe scientic study of psychology should be grounded in tant discipline in the neurobiological sciences. The role
an understanding of biology:
of psychology in this questions is that of a social tool that
James, like many early psychologists, had considerable backs up the main or strongest biological science. The
training in physiology. The emergence of both psychol- term psychobiology was rst used in its modern sense
in his book An Outline of Psychobiology and behavioral neuroscience as legitimate sciences by Knight Dunlap
[7]
ogy
(1914).
Dunlap
also was the founder and editor-incan be traced from the emergence of physiology from
chief
of
the
journal
Psychobiology.
In the announcement
anatomy, particularly neuroanatomy. Physiologists conof
that
journal,
Dunlap
writes
that
the journal will pubducted experiments on living organisms, a practice that
1

3 RESEARCH METHODS

lish research "...bearing on the interconnection of mental

and physiological functions, which describes the eld of
behavioral neuroscience even in its modern sense.[7]

Relationship to other elds of

psychology and biology

In many cases, humans may serve as experimental

subjects in behavioral neuroscience experiments; however, a great deal of the experimental literature in behavioral neuroscience comes from the study of nonhuman species, most frequently rats, mice, and monkeys. As a result, a critical assumption in behavioral neuroscience is that organisms share biological and behavioral similarities, enough to permit extrapolations across
species. This allies behavioral neuroscience closely
with comparative psychology, evolutionary psychology,
evolutionary biology, and neurobiology. Behavioral neuroscience also has paradigmatic and methodological similarities to neuropsychology, which relies heavily on the
study of the behavior of humans with nervous system dysfunction (i.e., a non-experimentally based biological manipulation).
Synonyms for behavioral neuroscience, though with
a slightly dierent emphasis and organization, include biopsychology, biological psychology, and
psychobiology.[8] Physiological psychology is another
term often used synonymously with behavioral neuroscience, though most authors would make physiological
psychology a subeld of behavioral neuroscience, with
an appropriately more narrow denition.

Research methods

The distinguishing characteristic of a behavioral neuroscience experiment is that either the independent variable
of the experiment is biological, or some dependent variable is biological. In other words, the nervous system of
the organism under study is permanently or temporarily
altered, or some aspect of the nervous system is measured
(usually to be related to a behavioral variable).

Surgical lesions - Neural tissue is destroyed by

removing it surgically.
Electrolytic lesions - Neural tissue is destroyed
through the application of electrical shock
trauma.
Chemical lesions - Neural tissue is destroyed
by the infusion of a neurotoxin.
Temporary lesions - Neural tissue is temporarily disabled by cooling or by the use of
anesthetics such as tetrodotoxin.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation - A new technique usually used with human subjects in which
a magnetic coil applied to the scalp causes unsystematic electrical activity in nearby cortical neurons
which can be experimentally analyzed as a functional lesion.
Psychopharmacological manipulations - A chemical
receptor antagonist induces neural activity by interfering with neurotransmission. Antagonists can be
delivered systemically (such as by intravenous injection) or locally (intracerebrally) during a surgical
procedure into the ventricles or into specic brain
structures. For example, NMDA antagonist AP5
has been shown to inhibit the initiation of long term
potentiation of excitatory synaptic transmission (in
rodent fear conditioning) which is believed to be a
vital mechanism in learning and memory.[9]
Optogenetic inhibition - A light activated inhibitory
protein is expressed in cells of interest. Powerful millisecond timescale neuronal inhibition is instigated upon stimulation by the appropriate frequency of light delivered via ber optics or implanted LEDs in the case of vertebrates,[10] or via
external illumination for small, suciently translucent invertebrates.[11] Bacterial Halorhodopsins or
Proton pumps are the two classes of proteins used
for inhibitory optogenetics, achieving inhibition by
increasing cytoplasmic levels of halides (Cl-) or decreasing the cytoplasmic concentration of protons,
respectively.[12][13]

3.2 Enhancing Neural Function

3.1

Disabling or decreasing neural function

Lesions - A classic method in which a brain-region

of interest is naturally or intentionally destroyed to
observe any resulting changes such as degraded or
enhanced performance on some behavioral measure.
Lesions can be placed with relatively high accuracy
thanks to a variety of brain 'atlases which provide
a map of brain regions in 3-dimensional stereotactic
coordinates.

Electrical stimulation - A classic method in which

neural activity is enhanced by application of a small
electrical current (too small to cause signicant cell
death).
Psychopharmacological manipulations - A chemical receptor agonist facilitates neural activity by enhancing or replacing endogenous neurotransmitters.
Agonists can be delivered systemically (such as by
intravenous injection) or locally (intracerebrally)
during a surgical procedure.

3.4

Genetic techniques

Transcranial magnetic stimulation - In some cases

(for example, studies of motor cortex), this technique can be analyzed as having a stimulatory eect
(rather than as a functional lesion).
Optogenetic excitation - A light activated excitatory protein is expressed in select cells.
Channelrhodopsin2 (ChR2), a light activated
cation channel, was the rst bacterial opsin shown
to excite neurons in response to light,[14] though a
number of new excitatory optogenetic tools have
now been generated by improving and imparting
novel properties to ChR2[15]

3.3

Measuring neural activity

Optical techniques - Optical methods for recording

neuronal activity rely on methods that modify the
optical properties of neurons in response to the cellular events associated with action potentials or neurotransmitter release.

3
be detected in an MRI apparatus and are taken to
indicate relative activity of larger scale brain regions
(i.e., on the order of hundreds of thousands of neurons).
Electroencephalography - Or EEG; and the derivative technique of event-related potentials, in which
scalp electrodes monitor the average activity of neurons in the cortex (again, used most frequently with
human subjects).
Functional neuroanatomy - A more complex counterpart of phrenology. The expression of some
anatomical marker is taken to reect neural activity. For example, the expression of immediate early
genes is thought to be caused by vigorous neural activity. Likewise, the injection of 2-deoxyglucose
prior to some behavioral task can be followed by
anatomical localization of that chemical; it is taken
up by neurons that are electrically active.

MEG - Magnetoencephalography shows the func Voltage sensitive dyes (VSDs) were among
tioning of the human brain through the measurement
the earliest method for optically detecting acof electromagnetic activity. Measuring the magnetic
tion potentials. VSDs commonly become uelds created by the electric current owing within
orescent in response to a neurons change
the neurons identies brain activity associated with
in voltage, rendering individual action potenvarious human functions in real time, with millimetials detectable.[16] Genetically encoded voltter spatial accuracy. Clinicians can noninvasively
age sensitive uorescent proteins have also
obtain data to help them assess neurological disorbeen developed.[17]
[18]
ders and plan surgical treatments.
Calcium imaging relies on dyes
or ge[19]
netically encoded proteins
that uoresce
upon binding to the calcium that is transiently
present during an action potential.
3.4 Genetic techniques
Synapto-pHluorin is a technique that relies on
a fusion protein that combines a synaptic vesi QTL mapping - The inuence of a gene in some
cle membrane protein and a pH sensitive uobehavior can be statistically inferred by studying
rescent protein. Upon synaptic vesicle release,
inbred strains of some species, most commonly
the chimeric protein is exposed to the higher
mice. The recent sequencing of the genome of many
pH of the synaptic cleft, causing a measurable
species, most notably mice, has facilitated this techchange in uorescence.[20]
nique.
Single-unit recording - A method whereby an electrode is introduced into the brain of a living animal
to detect electrical activity that is generated by the
neurons adjacent to the electrode tip. Normally this
is performed with sedated animals but sometimes it
is performed on awake animals engaged in a behavioral event, such as a thirsty rat whisking a particular sandpaper grade previously paired with water in
order to measure the corresponding patterns of neuronal ring at the decision point.[21]
Multielectrode recording - The use of a bundle of
ne electrodes to record the simultaneous activity of
up to hundreds of neurons.
fMRI - Functional magnetic resonance imaging, a
technique most frequently applied on human subjects, in which changes in cerebral blood ow can

Selective breeding - Organisms, often mice, may

be bred selectively among inbred strains to create a
recombinant congenic strain. This might be done to
isolate an experimentally interesting stretch of DNA
derived from one strain on the background genome
of another strain to allow stronger inferences about
the role of that stretch of DNA.
Genetic engineering - The genome may also be
experimentally-manipulated; for example, knockout
mice can be engineered to lack a particular gene, or
a gene may be expressed in a strain which does not
normally do so (the 'transgenic'). Advanced techniques may also permit the expression or suppression of a gene to occur by injection of some regulating chemical.

3.5

Limitations and advantages

Dierent manipulations have advantages and limitations.

Neural tissue destroyed by surgery, electric shock or neurotoxcin is a permanent manipulation and therefore limits follow-up investigation.[22] Most genetic manipulation
techniques are also considered permanent.[22] Temporary lesions can be achieved with advanced in genetic
manipulations, for example, certain genes can now be
switched on and o with diet.[22] Pharmacological manipulations also allow blocking of certain neurotransmitters
temporarily as the function returns to its previous state
after the drug has been metabolized.[22]

Topic areas in behavioral neuroscience

In general, behavioral neuroscientists study similar

themes and issues as academic psychologists, though limited by the need to use nonhuman animals. As a result, the
bulk of literature in behavioral neuroscience deals with
mental processes and behaviors that are shared across different animal models such as:
Sensation and perception
Motivated behavior (hunger, thirst, sex)
Control of movement
Learning and memory
Sleep and biological rhythms
Emotion
However, with increasing technical sophistication and
with the development of more precise noninvasive methods that can be applied to human subjects, behavioral
neuroscientists are beginning to contribute to other classical topic areas of psychology, philosophy, and linguistics,
such as:
Language
Reasoning and decision making
Consciousness
Behavioral neuroscience has also had a strong history of
contributing to the understanding of medical disorders,
including those that fall under the purview of clinical psychology and biological psychopathology (also known as
abnormal psychology). Although animal models do not
exist for all mental illnesses, the eld has contributed important therapeutic data on a variety of conditions, including:

NOBEL LAUREATES

Parkinsons Disease, a degenerative disorder of the

central nervous system that often impairs the sufferers motor skills and speech.
Huntingtons Disease, a rare inherited neurological
disorder whose most obvious symptoms are abnormal body movements and a lack of coordination. It
also aects a number of mental abilities and some
aspects of personality.
Alzheimers Disease, a neurodegenerative disease
that, in its most common form, is found in people
over the age of 65 and is characterized by progressive cognitive deterioration, together with declining activities of daily living and by neuropsychiatric
symptoms or behavioral changes.
Clinical depression, a common psychiatric disorder,
characterized by a persistent lowering of mood, loss
of interest in usual activities and diminished ability
to experience pleasure.
Schizophrenia, a psychiatric diagnosis that describes
a mental illness characterized by impairments in the
perception or expression of reality, most commonly
manifesting as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or
bizarre delusions or disorganized speech and thinking in the context of signicant social or occupational dysfunction.
Autism, a brain development disorder that impairs
social interaction and communication, and causes
restricted and repetitive behavior, all starting before
a child is three years old.
Anxiety, a physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components. These components combine to create the
feelings that are typically recognized as fear, apprehension, or worry.
Drug abuse, including alcoholism.

5 Nobel Laureates
The following Nobel Prize winners could reasonably be
considered biological neuroscientists or neurobiologists.
(This list omits winners who were almost exclusively
neuroanatomists or neurophysiologists; i.e., those that did
not measure behavioral or neurobiological variables.)
Charles Sherrington (1932)
Edgar Adrian (1932)
Walter Hess (1949)
Egas Moniz (1949)
Georg von Bksy (1961)

5
George Wald (1967)
Ragnar Granit (1967)
Konrad Lorenz (1973)

[1] Breedlove, Watson, Rosenzweig, Biological Psychology:

An Introduction to Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience,
6/e, ISBN 978-0-87893-705-9, p. 2

Niko Tinbergen (1973)

[2] Psychobiology, Merriam-Websters Online Dictionary

Karl von Frisch (1973)

Roger W. Sperry (1981)
David H. Hubel (1981)
Torsten N. Wiesel (1981)
Eric R. Kandel (2000)
Arvid Carlsson (2000)
Richard Axel (2004)
Linda B. Buck (2004)
John O'Keefe (2014)
Edvard Moser (2014)
May-Britt Moser (2014)

7 References

See also
Aective neuroscience
Biological psychiatry
Biology
Cognitive neuroscience
Developmental psychobiology
Epigenetics in psychology
Evolutionary psychology
List of topics related to brain mapping
Models of abnormality
Neurobiology
Neuroethology
Outline of psychology
Physical anthropology
Psychopharmacology
Psychophysics
Social neuroscience

[3] Carlson, Neil (2007). Physiology of Behavior (9th Ed.).

Allyn and Bacon. pp. 1114. ISBN 0-205-46724-5.
[4] James, William (1950/1890). The Principles of Psychology, Vol. One. Dover Publications, Inc. pp. 45. ISBN
0-486-20381-6. Check date values in: |date= (help)
[5] Shepherd, Gordon M. (1991). Foundations of the Neuron
Doctrine. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506491-7.
[6] History of Neuroscience. Columbia University. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
[7] Dewsbury, Donald (1991). Psychobiology. American
Psychologist (46): 198205.
[8] S. Marc Breedlove, Mark Rosenzweig and Neil V. Watson (2007). Biological Psychology: An Introduction to
Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience 6e. Sinauer Associates. ISBN 978-0-87893-705-9
[9] Kim, Jeansok J.; DeCola, Joseph P.; Landeira-Fernandez,
Jesus; Fanselow, Michael S. N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist APV blocks acquisition but not expression of fear conditioning. Behavioral Neuroscience.
Vol 105(1), Feb 1991, 126-133. {doi|10.1037/07357044.105.1.126}
[10] Schneider et al.
Controlling Neuronal Activity.
American Journal of Psychiatry 165:562, May 2008
doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.08030444
[11] Zhang, et al. Multimodal fast optical interrogation
of neural circuitry. Nature. Vol 446. 5 April 2007.
doi:10.1038/nature05744
[12] Chow, B. Y. et al. High-performance genetically targetable optical neural silencing by light-driven proton
pumps. Nature. Vol 463. 7 January 2010
[13] Gradinaru, Thompson, and Deisseroth. eNpHR: a Natronomonas halorhodopsin enhanced for optogenetic applications. Brain cell Biology. Vol 36 (1-4). Aug 2008.
doi:10.1007/s11068-008-9027-6
[14] Zhang,
Wang,
Boyden,
and
Deisseroth.
Channelrhodopsin-2 and optical control of excitable
cells. Nature Methods. VOL.3 NO.10. OCTOBER
2006
[15] Gradinaru et al. Molecular and Cellular Approaches for
Diversifying and Extending Optogenetics. Cell. 2010.
doi:10.1016/j.cell.2010.02.037
[16] Ebner, T. J. and Chen, G. Use of voltage-sensitive dyes
and optical recordings in the central nervous system.
Progress in Neurobiology Volume 46, Issue 5, August
1995, 463-506. doi:10.1016/0301-0082(95)00010-S

[17] Micah S. Siegel and Ehud Y. Isaco. A Genetically Encoded Optical Probe of Membrane Voltage."Neuron, Vol.
19, 735741, October, 1997
[18] O'Donovan, Hoa, Sholomenkoa, and Yeea. Real-time
imaging of neurons retrogradely and anterogradely labelled with calcium-sensitive dyes. Journal of Neuroscience Methods. Vol 46, Issue 2, February 1993, 91-106.
doi:10.1016/0165-0270(93)90145-H
[19] Nicola Heim and Oliver Griesbeck. Genetically Encoded
Indicators of Cellular Calcium Dynamics Based on Troponin C and Green Fluorescent Protein. The Journal of
Biological Chemistry, 279, 14280-14286. April 2, 2004
doi:10.1074/jbc.M312751200
[20] Gero Miesenbck, Dino A. De Angelis & James E. Rothman1. Visualizing secretion and synaptic transmission
with pH-sensitive green uorescent proteins. Nature 394,
192-195 (9 July 1998) | doi:10.1038/28190
[21] von Heimendahl, M., Itskov, P., Arabzadeh, E., & Diamond, M. (2007). Neuronal activity in rat barrel cortex underlying texture discrimination. PLoS Biol, 5(11),
e305.
[22] T Abel, KM Lattal (2001) Molecular mechanisms of
memory acquisition, consolidation and retrieval Current
Opinion in Neurobiology

External links
Biological Psychology Links
Theory of Biological Psychology (Documents No. 9
and 10 in English)
IBRO (International Brain Research Organization)

EXTERNAL LINKS

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