Behavioral Neuroscience

Behavioral neuroscience is a highly interdisciplinary field that combines ideas, knowledge and concepts from psychology, neurology, biochemistry and genetic engineering to better understand and explain behavior. It looks at the relation between neurological systems and individual behavior, including how the brain affects emotions, conscious mental faculties, habit formation, and decision-making. It uses both experimental techniques to study the structures and functioning of the brain and neuroimaging procedures to infer activity in the central nervous system and establish a cause-and-effect relationship between particular behaviors and certain neural pathways. Behavioral neuroscientists observe the effects of psychological processes on the brain’s functioning and on neurobiological systems. Animal studies, for example, are used to identify mechanisms that are conserved between humans and other species and illustrate how the circuitry of the brain influences behavior. Research data drawn from such studies often laid the groundwork for clinical trials and treatments related to psychological disorders. In their work, behavioral neuroscientists may explore how chemical mechanisms in the brain create distinct psychological outcomes, as well as the gene expression that contributes to behaviors. Neuroinformatics is a particularly popular branch of behavioral neuroscience that uses computers to analyze large-scale datasets. Additionally, there is a strong emphasis on understanding how structural and functional plasticity shape behavior over time, including how psychological trauma can alter the functioning of the brain. The interdisciplinary nature of behavioral neuroscience is exemplified by the array of techniques used to study behavior, many of which are found in related fields such as psychology, biochemistry, and genetics. Behavioral neuroscience includes primary research methods such as case studies, self-report measures (e.g., questionnaires, interviews), physiological assessments (e.g., EEG), pharmacological studies, and neuroimaging (e.g., MRI, fMRI). Developments in the understanding of complex psychological phenomena such as mental illness, traumatic brain injury and emotional regulation continue to be driven by findings from behavioral neuroscience.