Modern Methods in Neuroethology

Behavior reflects its underlying neuronal processes. This makes the study of behavior an immensely powerful tool in the assessment of neuronal systems, on both a neuronal and an algorithmic level. Through behavioral observation it is possible to determine the organism’s intrinsic information analysis. Modern genetics, as well as sophisticated physiological and pharmacological methods, allow us to manipulate neurons in the organism. Via behavioral measurements we can then investigate the function and importance of the neurons during the execution of said behavior. Ethology also is inherently noisy and the organism might not be prone to execute the behavior in the fashion the observer preordained. Therefore, careful design of the behavioral paradigm and tools to measure many animals are often necessary for successful experiments.

This Research Topic will collect tools, methods, and paradigms for neuroethology and hopefully becomes an online resource for many scientists performing behavioral experiments. Specialists of the field will be encouraged to present their ethological approaches. Contributions are expected to have a practical component, e.g. detailed descriptions and blueprints of behavioral setups or source codes for software tools. Therefore, extensive space for supplementary material will be provided. Regardless if this an improvement to a canonical paradigm or a novel approach, the implementation and analysis should be exemplified in a case study.

We aim for contributions covering one or more of the following aspects:
• Novel behavioral setups (please include blueprints)
• Improvements to existing setups
• Software tools and algorithms for behavioral data analysis

All contributions should include a case study: This can be purely replicatory to showcase the consistency of the method and/or might include a novel experiment.