Behavior is movement only but how to interpret it? Problems and pitfalls in translational neuroscience-a 40-year experience.

ABSTRACT: Translational research in behavioral neuroscience seeks causes and remedies for human mental health problems in animals, following leads imposed by clinical research in psychiatry. This endeavor faces several problems because scientists must read and interpret animal movements to represent human perceptions, mood, and memory processes. Yet, it is still not known how mammalian brains bundle all these processes into a highly compressed motor output in the brain stem and spinal cord, but without that knowledge, translational research remains aimless. Based on some four decades of experience in the field, the article identifies sources of interpretation problems and illustrates typical translational pitfalls. (1) The sensory world of mice is different. Smell, hearing, and tactile whisker sensa

SUBMITTER: Lipp HP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9623569 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature