An Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience

Behavioral neuroscience is the study of how the nervous system guides behavior, and how the various functional areas and networks within the brain correlate to specific behaviors and disease states. Researchers in this field utilize a wide variety of experimental methods ranging from complex animal training techniques to sophisticated imaging experiments in human subjects.

This video first offers a historical overview of some of the major milestones that lead to our current understanding of the brain’s control over behavior. Then, some of the fundamental questions asked by behavioral neuroscientists are presented, which all involve the study of neural correlates, or specific brain regions whose activation is responsible for a given function. Next, prominent methods used to answer those questions are reviewed for both human and animal subjects, such as operant conditioning and functional neuroimaging. Finally, experimental applications of these techniques are presented, including animal training using a Skinner box, and the use of electroencephalography to investigate human neurological disease.